A Mate to Cherish
by twitchspazztwitch
Summary: A Chlerek fanfic. Derek confesses his love and Chloe responds.
1. His Confession

**Hi, everyone. Obviously this is a ChloexDerek fanfic, and my first ever. I know the chapter is short and I apologize, but hopefully I'll improve with time. Please read and review, and critiques are appreciated as I would like to write more in the future. **

**Note: This takes place after The Awakening, and they've already been at the safe house for a few weeks.**

**Disclaimer: Really? The rights to Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers series aren't for sale? But I could've sworn.**

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_DPOV_

I looked at her face and into those overwhelmingly beautiful, blue eyes. I could see how concerned she was, how worried she was making herself…_over me_. That last thought replayed itself in my head. _She's worried about me. Chloe. Beautiful, strong, wonderful Chloe is worried about me. She must care. She has to. _I had to face facts though, what if she didn't? What if Chloe only cared about me because I was her friend? Not because I was……I drifted off again. All the little memories came flooding back, of her helping me through the change, her hand on my back, her smile, God how I loved that smile, and her eyes. The beautiful eyes that always showed how much she cared. She had to care. I don't think I could bare it if she didn't. But I had to be sure. I had to know.

"Chloe?" I barely managed to whisper the word. Her blue eyes bored straight into my green ones.

"Derek? A-Are you okay? You seem so distraught. Is it the change? Is it coming again?" Her voice was tinged with anxiety. I didn't want her to suffer, or feel this way on my account. But at the same time, I couldn't help but think: _She really does care. If she's this worried, she has too. You have to tell her. Now. _The last thought came out as more of a low growl then the others had, and I realized it wasn't just the human side of me batting the idea around in my head any more. My inner wolf was there too, and he wanted Chloe to know. Wanted her to accept him, to need him.

Apparently, I must have been quiet for more time than Chloe thought necessary because when I looked at her, I noticed something had dramatically changed. Chloe was touching me. Her hand was on my forehead, then her palm on my cheek. But then it didn't move. Her soft skin remained close to mine, and I couldn't figure out why she wasn't pulling away. She already knew by my forehead that I didn't have a fever. I guess the mixture of confusion and shock showed on my face, because Chloe pulled her hand down to her side at an incredible speed, and began facing the floor.

The awkward silence that followed probably would've been deafening to most. But I didn't notice, all I could hear was the quickening beat of my heart, and the corresponding speed of Chloe's heart. _They match. _With that, a slight smile made its way to the corner of my mouth, but I quickly corrected it before beginning again.

"Chloe?" She raised her head and I noticed that her cheeks were still tinted with the slightest shade of pink. _She turned her head because she was blushing. She blushed at touching you. That has to mean something. Doesn't it? Wait…that's good right? What if she was blushing because she thought it was weird and inappropriate? Crap. She couldn't think that. Not after all this time._ Her intense stare pulled me out of my inner ramblings, and I saw the expectant look in her eyes. Why was she looking me like that? _Because you said her name stupid. That's why._ Oh, right. I suddenly had the urge to slap myself in the head for acting like such a moron.

"Sorry, Chloe. I got kind of, well…distracted for a minute." She looked up at me, and had the smallest hint of a smile on her face. "That's okay, Derek. Just tell me what's wrong. Please. I don't like to see you like this." The smile vanished and was replaced with nothing but concern once again. I inhaled deeply trying to prepare myself for what I was about to do. It helped, but somehow I knew that I would never be ready. Now was the time to do it though, regardless, so I continued.

"Do you remember the night at the park?" I saw her visibly shudder, and couldn't help but reach out and grab her shoulders. I needed to steady her, to prepare her for what I was about to say. The slight shaking stopped immediately at my touch and her stare transformed, but into something I couldn't read, emotion behind it that I couldn't decipher. _What is she thinking?_

A small, "Y-yes," escaped her lips. I knew she was replaying the experience in her mind, and it was troubling her. I needed to get past this as fast as possible and make that scene stop.

"Do you remember what Liam said?" By this point, she looked almost on the verge of crying. "W-Which part?" she replied and shuddered again. "The part where he kept telling Ramon, that I had found myself…" I cleared my throat, as if that would help me to say it somehow, "…a mate." The threatening tears vanished and she had the mysterious look on her face again.

"Y-y-yes." She nodded her head. "I remember."

"Well, you see, the thing is," I paused before saying as quickly as I possibly could, "he was right."

"W-what? Derek, what do you mean, 'he was right'? I don't understand." _Oh God. _The thoughts were whizzing through my head at such a fast speed that they were hard to receive in correct order. _She's going to reject me. She's going to be revolted by the idea of being my mate. I knew it. She'll run, and I'll lose her forever._ It was too late though now, the next words were already coming out of my mouth with no help from me.

"Chloe. You're my mate. Now, I know that sounds very strange, and even possibly appalling, but what it means is wonderful. It means that you are the only person I ever want to be with. You are the one I want by my side for the rest of my life. You are my mate, the one I need always. I belong with you." I dropped my hands from her shoulders, allowing her to escape at her own will, to escape from the monster before her. I stared at the floor not wanting to see her retreat. Then something happened that I didn't expect; there was silence. That long and beautiful silence. It had to last for at least two minutes before it hit me: _She's not running. Maybe she's just in shock. She'll run eventually, it's inevitable. Why would she want to be with a monster like me? Because she's your mate of course. _The wolf was intruding on my thoughts again, but I wasn't about to let his positive outlook get my hopes up.

"Derek." At the sound of her voice, I looked up. She was still standing there and staring very intently at me. "Yeah?" I responded.

"So what you're telling me is, basically, that you l-lo-love me?" I met her gaze with as much intensity as I could possibly muster. "Yes Chloe. Of course. I'll love you for the rest of my life."

"And you want to be with me?" There was a hint of something in her voice, and her lips were turned up ever so slightly at the corners into a mischievous smile. Now I was really confused.

"Yes, Chloe…more than anything." Suddenly I saw a flash of white. It was bright and warm, and _Where did that come from?_ I tore my eyes away from Chloe's to realize she was clutching my hand, and bringing it towards…her chest. My shoulders tensed, wondering exactly what she was doing and where she was going with this. Eventually it came to rest slightly beneath her neck, above her heart. I just stared at it.

"Derek…" Even Chloe's voice couldn't tear my gaze away from the connection between us. "…I love you too." That did it, my eyes hit Chloe's again. _Did she just say what I think she said? Yes. Yes. She definitely just said she loved me. She loves me! _By this point, the wolf was smiling confidently. _Now show her how much she means to you. _For once, I didn't resist the wolf at all. He was right, he had been right, and it was about time I start accepting it.

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**Well I hope you enjoyed it. This was only the first chapter out of many.**

**Once again, Please read and review! ^_^**


	2. Nerves

**Okay, so I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I wanted to make it a good one, but got a bit of writers block after writing the first page (which by the way, this is 4.5 pages on Word, minus the little intro and outro). Total the chapter is 2,675 words, and I hope you enjoy every one. **

**Special thank you's to everyone who reviewed my first chapter and everyone who added it to their favorites! I love you all! **

**As always, please read and review, and critiques are appreciated.**

**Extra-special thanks to FreyasWrath, ., Kid of Colors and YoursTrulyUlysses; I love all your stories!**

**Disclaimer: Really? The rights to Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers series aren't for sale? But I could've sworn.**

Nerves

_CPOV_

The minute the words left me, I knew I had said the right thing. I wasn't worried about how he would react because I knew the feeling were real, and after his own little confession, I was no longer afraid to let him know. I wasn't nervous anymore or worried that he might reject me. For the first time in many weeks, I was truly happy.

I held his hand tight in my own, resting it over my heavily pounding heart. That's where he was, and that's where he always would be. I would always love Derek, and from this point on, he would always be a part of me – always there, protecting me, guiding me, and loving me. He was mine to love, and only mine. Forever. The last words rang through my skull…_Forever. Mine Forever._ By this point, my mind was reeling. I was so filled with delight that I couldn't stand, literally. I guess all of the endorphins must have overloaded my brain or something because suddenly I felt weak at the knees, almost as if they would buckle under the slightest influence.

When I felt Derek's hands slip from my grip and grab my upper arms, all I could think was, _Thank God. _I dropped my gaze from Derek's without even really realizing it. _Without him holding me up, I think I literally may have collapsed. Wow, would that've been funny. _The cheesy movie lines had already started writing themselves on the virtual script in my brain:_ "Wow, you just really have the girls falling for you don't you Derek?", "You just swept me off my feet." _I did my best to restrain the giggle rising from my chest. Wow, I was really starting to get a little slaphappy.

Derek's grip on my arms tightened, and I looked up at him again wondering what was with the sudden need to grab me so hard. It wasn't as if he had to hold me that tightly to keep me upright, I mean sure I was a little wobbly but it wasn't anything that, with his exceptional strength, the slight aid he had offered before couldn't fix. His gaze was so intense that I started to worry. _What's wrong? Did he hear something? Oh no, is it the Ed…_

Suddenly I realized that Derek's face was now only about three inches away from mine and getting steadily closer each second. _Holy shit he's going to kiss me?! Yay! _The heat rose in my cheeks as I could feel myself blushing. _Wait, what do I do? I mean, I want to kiss him, I love him. But what if I'm bad at it? Crap. What if I suck so much he never wants to kiss me again? Crap! Okay Chloe, calm down. Just think about all those romantic movies you've watched. What does the short girl usually do to kiss the taller guy? 1. Stand on tip toes. Check. 2. Tilt head up. Check. 3. Close eyes (and hope to God I don't suck). Check. _

With all that accounted for, Derek's lips finally touched me. Granted it definitely wasn't anything like what I expected, or where for that matter. Derek's kiss had landed smack dab on the tip of my nose. Apparently, he had closed his eyes after I had, and well, that different of heights, plus a major lack of experience, plus nerves, I can imagine why it didn't exactly work out. As he opened his eyes, a look of surprise spread across his face. Obviously, it hadn't gone as he had planned either.

A blush rose in Derek's cheeks. _Awwww…he's so cute when he's embarrassed. _A bit of a smile played over my face, and Derek began to look even more confused. _Well, this romance just became a romantic comedy. _At that I actually let out a bit of an involuntary giggle. Derek must have thought I was laughing at him because he dropped his hands from my shoulders and began staring directly at his feet – the blush on his cheeks reddened even more so. _Oh no! _was all I could think; I didn't mean for him to think I was laughing at him.

I lifted my hand to his face as gently as I could lifting his chin up until his eyes met my face, which wasn't all that far considering that I was around a foot shorter than him. His eyes still wouldn't meet mine though, he seemed to want to look everywhere but directly at me. "Look at me." I tenderly commanded him. He did as I said, but there was a look in his eyes that almost brought tears to my own; I couldn't really identify it, but I could tell that my small laugh had hurt him. "Listen to me, okay. I wasn't laughing at you." I giggled again involuntarily as the romantic comedy scenario played through my mind again. Derek just grunted, apparently not finding my words plus second laugh very convincing. With my free hand I grabbed his wrist, and pulled. He didn't budge. I dropped my other hand from his face. "Derek," I said slightly exasperated, "Please cooperate. Trust me, you won't regret it." Upon issuing the last sentence from my lips I had adapted an inflection in my voice that said I was up to something. Sure enough, that little statement got his attention just as I had hoped it would, and his muscles relaxed.

I pulled again, this time with him following, and drug him over to his bed. I sat down, but sadly his muscles had tensed again and he remained standing next to it. Patting my hand on the bed next to me and motioning for him to sit there, I pulled out my disappointed face, which was really somewhat reminiscent of the sad puppy face. "Please, Derek." I said, in an almost whiny child-like way. I guess at this point he realized that I wasn't going to do anything too stupid, and so he gave in, plopping himself down next to me on the bed. "See, that wasn't so hard was it?" I said with a hint of humor and sarcasm in my voice. Derek just grunted. _Okay, seriously? This silent treatment is starting to annoy me._ I pushed the annoyance down, and smiled. "I really wasn't laughing at you, you know…" Derek didn't respond. "Well, would you like to know what I was laughing at?" At this, he perked up a bit and turned his head to face me, he waited patiently, with this smug look in his face as if I couldn't possibly prove him wrong. "I'll have you know that I was thinking of movies."

"What?" Derek had a look of incredulity on his face. "Why were you thinking of movies when we were kissing?"

"Well, you know how much I like movies." By this point, my voice showed nothing but a light sense of humor.

Derek nodded. "I'm pretty sure everyone in this house does." Unlike my voice, his was tinged with annoyance.

_I guess I had better hurry this up before he gets too annoyed at me._ "Ha. Ha. But not everyone knows, or at least I doubt they do, what I'm about to tell you." Derek seemed a little more interested after that. "You see, when things are happening to me that I haven't experienced before, I have this nifty little coping mechanism. I basically turn my life into and relate it to a movie."

"Huh?" was his only response.

A blush began to rise in my cheeks, as I became embarrassed over what I was about to tell him. "Basically, when you went to k-kiss me before, since I-I-I've n-never been k-k-kissed," I began playing with my fingers and Derek grabbed my hand, holding it delicately and interlacing his fingers with mine. "I-I-I didn't r-r-really know w-what to do." _Stupid stutter. Okay, calm down Chloe, he'll understand, and he'll be happier since you weren't laughing at him. Plus, he's already holding your hand, encouraging you to continue. Not to mention it just feels right to have him holding your hand. So warm and gentle, and they fit together so nicely. You want this to continue don't you? So just calm down and breathe. _I did as my inner voice commanded and took a few deep breaths before continuing, hoping that I could manage to get through this next part without stuttering. "I kind of tried to do what those girls in romantic movies do when they kiss a guy, but then when you kissed my nose instead I realized that I obviously must have done something wrong, but then I realized that our first kiss was a bit more romantic comedy than romance, and that it was kind of cute that it ended up that way, and that's why I laughed." I had basically rushed through the end so fast that I wasn't even sure Derek understood…_Oh God. Please don't make me say it again, _I thought pleadingly.

I looked straight into his eyes waiting for a response, and sure enough, I got one: Derek smiled down lovingly at me. "I understand completely." Apparently, I must have looked confused or something because he continued to explain. "You know, that was my first kiss too, so I didn't really know what I was doing either. But I've seen Simon kiss girls before, so I was basically just trying to do what I remembered him doing as best I could. You can't even begin to imagine how nervous I was." I couldn't help but smiling at that.

"You were nervous?" I stared deeply into his eyes. _God his eyes are beautiful; they're just so, so, green. It fits him really, like the greenest leaves of summer._ His response broke me out of my little daydream.

"Of course I was?" He said it as if he was surprised I could even think that his nerves weren't as bad as mine. He pushed a stray hair that had fallen into my face back behind my ear. I close my eyes at his touch, loving the way his skin felt against mine. "You're so beautiful, Chloe. I was sure you had kissed other guys before, and I wanted to make sure I could live up to your expectations." Derek blushed again. I rather wondered if this was going to become a normal thing around me.

I reached up and rested my hand on his cheek. "You know, I really do love it when you blush. It's just so, endearing." His face had this slight look of humored surprise on it. "Yep, that's right. You're not the only one who can use big vocabulary words."

He let out a deep laugh at that and raised his hand to cover mine. Ever so gently, he slid my hand down over his mouth and kissed my palm.

"You have no idea how much I love you." It was the only response that came in my head, well not the only response, but I really didn't think he needed to know about the other. With that, I took my hand from his, swung both of my legs onto the bed and kneeled facing him.

"Chloe? What are you doing?" I could tell he was really confused now. Granted, it wasn't exactly as if I had everything planned out to even tell him, so I could understand his confusion. _And…now. _My inner voice declared. Following its order exactly, I lunged myself at Derek, throwing my arms around his neck. With him not exactly expecting the sudden motion from me, Derek fell backwards, with me half on top of him and half next to him.

I smiled at him and laughed playfully. "You know, I could get used to this."

The shock on his face faded into one of those rare smiles of Derek's that always make my stomach flutter. "I think I could too," he said as he wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed me tightly. I hugged him back, then repositioned myself so I was laying next to him, resting my head on his arm and arm on his chest, rather than on top of him. After all, even with his werewolf strength, I doubted it was comfortable to have another body with all of its weight on top of yours.

We laid there like that for a while, just enjoying the moment. Then of course I had to go and ruin it with a yawn. _Why does he have to be so comfy and warm? It's just so easy just to fall asleep in his arms, even when I don't want to. Maybe I got luck, maybe he didn't hear it. _I crossed my fingers in my head, given that it was kind of hard to do physically without him noticing. _Please tell me he didn't hear it, _I pleaded with the unknown. I didn't want to have to leave his arms simply because I was a little tired.

"Chloe?" Derek, tilted his head towards mine to look into my eyes. There were two things I could see there: love and concern. _Concern? Damn. He heard it._

"Mmhmm?" I put a smile on and tried to pretend as if I hadn't just yawned.

"You're tired. You need your sleep now more than ever; you should go to bed."

"Okay," I said as brightly as ever. I snuggled up even closer to him and shut my eyes. There was a short pause, and for a second I actually thought he was going to let me get away with it.

"Chloe, you know that's not what I meant." _Well, you can't knock a girl for trying._ I nodded my head disappointedly.

"How about you walk me there?" I said, not even really thinking about it too hard. I was picturing the romantic movie again, and the guy walking the girl to her door after the first date.

"I would, but what do you think Andrew and Tori, let alone Simon, would say if they saw us?"

"Oh." I hadn't really thought about that part. They didn't know, and I'm sure none would have that great of reactions. "I see what you mean."

"I can walk you to my door though, if you want." At that my heart sped up a little and my stomach did a slight flip.

"Deal," I said simply as I began to sit up. Derek sat up after me and got off the bed first, it was a bit easier for him given that I had been laying on the side by the wall. He offered his hand to me, and I accepted as he quickly pulled me up off the bed. Of course, I wasn't quite prepared for the force at which he lifted me, and I lost my balance, falling into his chest. I could already feel the heat rising in my cheeks. _Sure. Now you blush, you were just laying a bed with him for God sakes and didn't blush then. _

"Whoa. You okay? I'm sorry I guess, I just pulled a little too hard." Derek had one arm around my back holding me up, and when I looked up I noticed he was rubbing the other through his hair, looking down at me with one of those "oops, my bad" looks.

"It's okay. I didn't mind." I wrapped my arms around his torso and hugged him tightly.

"I guess you'd better get to bed," he said as he smiled.

"I guess." was all I said. We walked to the door and I reached my hand down to rest on the knob. Before opening it though I turned to Derek stood on my tip toes, grabbed onto his shirt collar to steady myself, and gave him a quick kiss. This time it was directly on the lips. As soon as I had done it, I dropped back down, turned around and scurried out the door and back to my room – leaving Derek standing there, and I'd imagine still a bit surprised.

**Well I hope you enjoyed it, just as much as the last one. I hope to have another chapter up by next weekend, but no promises. It kind of depends on how hectic my schedule gets with homework and whatnot. **

**A few questions: Does anyone else think it's really hard to write from Chloe's point of view? Was she in character, because I'm kind of freaking a little about that? What would you like to see happen in future chapters?…I'm open to suggestions though I do already have a few things planned**

**Oh, and if any of you ever find any grammar or spelling errors please feel free to bring them to my attention. I aim for correctness in my work, and as long as I didn't do it purposely (i.e.- Chloe's mega run-on sentence movie confession), I would like to change it. I can't always catch all my mistakes, so when other people do I'm thankful. Anyway, that's all for now.**

**Once again, Please read and review! ^_^**


	3. Saying Goodnight

**Temporary Author's Note:**

**Okay, I know how much everyone hates these weird author notes, so I'm going to make this one short, sweet, and to the point.**

**Today I had a random burst of creativity and wrote an entire chapter. The only problem is that it is chapter 5, so kind of two unfinished chapters away from now. I was so excited though about it that I had to tell you, because this is really good news! It means I'll be posting it either the same day as, or the day after chapter 4. Basically, you get a two chapter bonus. **

**So, that's all for now. I'm off to do the calculus homework that I put off until the very last minute, then maybe, if I finish fast enough, I'll work some on Chapter 3. My goal is still to have it up by this weekend.**

**Teaser: the chapter I just wrote is titled **_**Caught ……**_**hmm, whatever could it be referring to? Have any guesses?**

**The actual AN:**

**Sorry this ended up taking a lot longer than I had hoped. College life gets busy (stupid homework!) But you do get three chapters at once, so hopefully that makes up for it some.**

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Saying Goodnight

_DPOV_

"Chloe, what are you doing?" _What on earth is she up to?_ Chloe was kneeling in front of me, on my bed, _on my BED!_, grinning mischievously. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I felt my pulse quicken trying to figure out what she was going to do. _I don't get…_I didn't even have the time to finish processing my thought before she pounced. Literally, the girl practically jumped on me, or rather into me, sending me down to the bed. _What the?! _I was still trying to get my mind around what had just happened and why I was now laying on my back when I heard Chloe's giggles. The sound brought my mind back and I followed it to her face, which apparently was directly above mine.

_Wait, what? Above me? _That's when I noticed the slight pressure on my body, not anything I couldn't handle, and definitely _not_ uncomfortable. In fact, it felt _nice._ _So warm. _It only took about a second before I connected the wonderful feeling, with the fact that Chloe's body was laying on top of mine. I felt the edges of my lips turn up as a smile crept across my face, _God I love her! _I couldn't help it, she was my mate and I never wanted her to leave. Never. I didn't want her to move from where she was. _Mate_. The wolf was back, and loving every minute of Chloe being this close to me. Though I definitely can say that this time, I wasn't anywhere close to even wanting to disagree.

Chloe's words brought me back to reality. "You know, I could get used to this," she said as she continued to smile. _That smile!_

I wrapped my arms around her slim waste and squeezed her to me, careful not to squeeze so hard that I hurt her. "I think I could too." In response, she hugged me back, which only made me smile more.

Then I felt her body wiggle, as she propped herself up on her hands to resituate. Her body left mine as she repositioned herself on my side. The wolf was peeved. _No. She wasn't supposed to move. _I was saddened but I understood. _It probably wasn't a comfortable position for her, not to mention it probably would've gotten awkward after a while. Not that it wouldn't have still been enjoyable and totally worth every minute of it of course. It's not like I could've just held her there and not let her move. That wouldn't have been a very good idea. _The wolf grinned like a fox. _Yes it would have. Shut up! _I couldn't exactly argue with him, because I knew I didn't want to; I wanted him to be right.

Chloe laid next to me using my arm as a pillow and resting her arm on my chest. _She's so close. And she loves me. And she didn't run! And she loves me. And she's laying next to me. And she loves me. _I laid on my bed with Chloe, reveling in my own cloud of bliss for what seemed like forever. It was wonderful, and I couldn't imagine a better way to spend the rest of my life. Then I heard it, the thing that made my cloud shrivel up and wither away. _Damn. __She yawned. She must be tired and she needs her sleep. Well, she could always sleep in here with you. Shut up. You know she can't do that. We'd be in so much trouble. _There was no way I was going to admit to the wolf that I like the idea just as much as he did. Chloe was the most important thing though, and she needed sleep, and to not get screamed at tomorrow morning, or rather tonight when Simon walked up to our room and found us sleeping there together. _Oh, Simon! Shit. I totally forgot about them. _I concentrated for a moment, listening carefully for the others downstairs.

_Good_. They were still watching the movie that Chloe and I had excused ourselves from earlier. I had already told her that I needed to talk to her earlier that night, so when the others sat down to watch Remember the Titans after dinner it was the perfect chance. I simply claimed that I didn't want to watch a movie, while Chloe said that she was tired and going to head to bed early. _Hmm, I guess she was tired after all. _I titled my head to the side so I could look into her eyes. "Chloe?"

"Mmhmm?" Chloe just smiled trying to pretend that nothing happened, but I wasn't going to fall for it. She needed rest, and I needed to get her out of my room before the movie ended and before I lost all will power to have her leave.

"You're tired. You need your sleep now more than ever; you should go to bed." _Not that I want you to. Please don't get mad._

"Okay," she said in a surprisingly peppy voice. _Huh? Wait, why is she happy? Does she actually want to leave?_ _No. Of course she doesn't want to leave; you're just being paranoid. _I was relieved as I felt her body snuggle closer into my side. She looked so beautiful and happy laying with me; I didn't want to end her happiness, or mine for that matter, but I knew I had to get her back to her room. _Then again, I could always just let her fall asleep, and carry her into her room after that. But then again, the movie's not going to last that much longer and one of them might see me carrying her and ask what's going on. Who am I kidding, if I let her sleep next to me now there's no way I'll carry her to her room, at least not unless someone forces me to. But then there'd be a hell of a lot of explaining to do, not to mention probably some stricter rules, an annoying eye looking over my shoulder every second, and a lecture from Andrew that would just spell a major headache for both Chloe and I. Well, I guess that's that then._

"Chloe, you know that's not what I meant." _Damn this sucks._ Chloe nodded, and I could tell she was disappointed. Even though I was too, I couldn't help but be a little happy that she really wanted to be this close to me and not leave even for something as necessary as sleep. The wolf was happy about this too, he laid contentedly, wagging his tail.

"How about you walk me there?" _Hmm, this could be fun. We could even do the whole goodnight kiss thing. Wait. Double Damn. Kissing in the hallway, probably not the best idea. Stupid Andrew, Simon, and Tori. Why do they have to be in this house too? Well, I know why they have to be here, but still. Everything would just be so much easier if they weren't. Not permanently of course, just long enough to give Chloe and I some alone time. Hmm…alone time……………_a flurry of images flew through my head. _Bad Derek. Now is not the time. Later, save it for later. _

"I would, but what do you think Andrew and Tori, let alone Simon, would say if they saw us?"

Apparently, the thought hadn't even occurred to her. Her only response was a dejected, "Oh." After thinking about it for a minute though, I guess what I had realized back when she yawned finally sunk in. "I see what you mean."

_Great. She understands, but how can I make up for this. I really do want to walk her, but I can't. Oooh, I know. _"I can walk you to my door though, if you want." I smiled, thinking that I had just come up with a pretty good idea. Chloe returned my smile, and seemed pleased.

"Deal," she said as she sat up. Well, it's probably going to be a little difficult for her to crawl over me, so I might as well get up first. I lifted myself onto my hands and stood from the bed, turning to offer Chloe my hand and some assistance. She took it. I loved the feeling, tiny jolts of electricity coursed through my body at the mere contact as she gripped my hand to support herself. I pulled her up as fast as I could, wanting her closer. Sure enough, I got my wish as she lost her balance, _my clutz, _and fell into my chest. Her face rested against my chest as the hand that I wasn't holding grasped at the shoulder of my t-shirt.

I wrapped my arm around her back in order to steady and support her. "Whoa. You okay? I'm sorry I guess, I just pulled a little too hard." I dropped the hand that had been holding hers to rub it through my hair, waiting for her to look at me. When she did I saw the cute blush on her cheeks. _Why is she blushing now? Wait, did I do something wrong?_ _Sorry, Chloe. I don't know what it is that made you uncomfortable, but I'm sure glad I did it if it got you to blush again. _I couldn't help but laugh a little in my head.

"It's okay. I didn't mind." With that she, wrapped her small arms around my torso and squeezed tightly. _I love her hugs._

I smiled as she clung to me and looked down into her glistening blue eyes, "I guess you'd better get to bed." The wolf growled, _Why are you making her leave stupid? She's your mate, remember. It's not like she wants to leave to begin with._ _Shut up. I know that. But I can also take into account that there are others in the house, remember? So? So there's this little thing called logic, which says we'll be in for more harm than good if we get caught. How exactly is it harmful to be with your mate? _The wolf was beginning to annoy me; I knew the end of the movie downstairs had to be approaching, and I didn't have the time to deal with his one-track mind. _Just shut up. I'll explain it later._

"I guess." Chloe once again broke me out of my little debate with the wolf, and I began walking her to my closed bedroom door. When we reached it Chloe rested her hand on the knob, but hesitated before she turned it. _Oh no. What's wrong? _I sniffed the air quickly and listened for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing was detected, except Chloe, myself, and the three watching the movie. Chloe then gave me the best surprise of my life. She suddenly turned towards me, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed me, actually on the lips this time. The entire thing sent a shock through me that was extremely pleasant, but before I had time to respond her lips were gone. _What? What just happened? Chloe kissed you!_ The wolf was practically prancing. _She kissed me. _I looked down, wanting to return the gesture, but she had vanished. _Where'd she…_I didn't even finish the thought before I heard the door to her room close.

"Wow." I leaned up against the wall and used it to brace myself as I slid to the floor. _She kissed me. Now I just hope that she'll do it again. _I smiled to myself, as images of Chloe and me passed through my mind. I'm not really sure how long I sat there thinking about Chloe and I, but the next thing I knew, I saw the door to my room pushing open farther. It had still been partially open from when Chloe had left. Simon stepped through the gap and looked around our room. Well not really our room, but the one we were sharing at present in the safe house. When he saw me sitting on the floor leaning against the wall he stopped and cocked his head to the side.

"What's with you?" Simon asked. I could hear the confusion in his voice, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why he would be confused. _Is he surprised that I'm in the room or something? Where else did he expect to find me?_

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you're sitting there with this huge goofy smile on your face. I mean, I've seen you smile before Derek, but never like that. It's weird. What happened?"

_Damn. There's no way I'm explaining to him the reason I'm smiling. What would I tell him? So, yeah Simon, the reason I'm smiling is because I just confessed my love the girl you like, and not only did she return my affections, but we laid in the same bed together for God only knows how long, and then she kissed me before she left. Ummm…no freaking way, am I going to tell him. _I carefully replaced my smile with my signature scowl before continuing. "What, is something wrong with smiling? Is everyone else in this freaking house allowed to smile besides me?" I added a bit of sharpness to my tone, knowing Simon would back down, but still not enough to actually make him think I was mad at him.

"Okay, sorry. I get it. You can smile all you want, I was just curious as to why. After all, it's not like it happens all that often." He kept prying. I glared at him, signaling him as best I could to back off, without outright telling him.

"Okay," he said putting his hands up a bit defensively, with his palms facing me. "I get it D. You don't want to talk about it, and it's none of my business. But whatever it is, I'm glad it happened. You should really smile like that more often." Simon grinned at me as if he had just said something clever. Even with his annoying ego though, he did have a point.

"With any luck, I will be," I told him. Hoping that would placate him for now. _I'll have to tell him eventually of course, but I just can't now. I'll have to talk to Chloe about it first. We're going to have to decide what and when to tell them soon, before they find out on their own. _I listened for Chloe in the other room, and heard her steady breathing. _But for now, she can rest. Sleep well Chloe. _I smiled again, imagining Chloe's form lying in her bed dreaming peacefully, the gentle rise and fall of her chest, a soft smile on her face, her hair spread out over her pillow. Actually, I had forgotten about Simon's presence entirely until he broke through my illusion.

"D? Hello, you there? Earth to Derek." Simon was squatting down in front of me waving his hand in front of my face.

"Oh. Uh, yeah. Sorry, what did you say?"

Simon stood up and laughed. "I said that we should probably be going to bed now. Andrew told Tori and I after the movie ended that he wanted to talk to us all tomorrow morning."

I stood up, following his lead, as Simon stripped down to his boxers and got in his bed. "Really, what about?" I headed to the small dresser we shared on the side of the wall, and grabbed a clean pair of boxers.

"I don't know actually. It was weird; when Tori and I asked him, he refused to tell us. All he said, was that we would find out tomorrow and to get to bed, and to tell you guys to do the same."

_Weird. _"Well, Andrew's bed time orders are going to have to wait. I'm going to hop in the shower first. Night, Simon," I said as I walked out of the room.

The bathroom was three doors down on the other side of the rooms that Tori and Chloe had chosen. I could understand why they didn't want to share a room, especially when there was clearly more than enough bedrooms in the safe house for each of us to have our own. _Simon and I would end up sharing a room either way, so that doesn't really matter. But I can't imagine sharing a room with Tori would be that pleasant, _I thought as I reached the bathroom and pulled a towel and washcloth out of the closet.

I spent about twice the time in the shower compared to my usual; there were just too many thoughts buzzing around in my head, and the warm water was relaxing. After getting out though, I toweled off, pulled on my boxers, and used my hand to wipe away some of the fog that had built up on the mirror over the sink.

Derek looked closely, analyzing the face staring back at him. He still had acne, though it had definitely toned down, and his wavy black hair hung down into his eyes in need of a trim. "Well, you may not be the best looking, but you still got the girl of your dreams," Derek said to his reflection. "Now we just have to figure out how to be together without everyone else finding out, and eventually how to tell them so we don't have to sneak around."

He grabbed the towel and rubbed it over his head, drying his hair, as he bent over and picked up the clothes he had been wearing earlier. With them secured under his arm and the towel draped over his shoulder, Derek left the bathroom and began heading down the hall toward his room, confident that everyone would be asleep by now and he didn't have to worry about walking half-naked in the middle of the house.

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**I know. I know. I'm sorry this took so long. But at least you'll get three at once. **

**R&R please! ^_^**


	4. Confusion: Part 1

**The as promised middle chapter. Note: this chapter is definitely going to have some filler in it, to make up for the fact that I never really described the safe house before, but it will also have some fun fluff. So enjoy.**

**As always, with these chapters, if you see any grammar mistakes just note them in a review and I'll fix it. Thanks to burningimpossiblybright for pointing out the waste/waist bit!**

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Confusion: Part 1

_DPOV_

As I walked down the hall, I could hear both Tori's and Simon's snores. _I was right, everyone was already asleep._ It wasn't until I reached my door and was about to walk in, that I heard her soft voice call out to me. I froze. _Huh? Did she just? _

"Derek." Chloe's voice echoed to him once more.

At first, I wasn't sure if I was imagining it or not. But the minute I heard her the second time, I knew it was real, and ran to her room, readying myself for a fight. _Protect her. _As if the wolf needed to point out the obvious. _I know that. I'm coming Chloe! Just hold on. _I opened her door, rushed to and crouched by her bedside, glaring into the room ready to pounce on whatever dared touch her. _Nothing will hurt Chloe! Ever. Whatever you are, I'll tear you to shreds! _

My breath was coming in pants and my rage was fuming; I could feel the wolf snarling menacingly within me. I didn't realize the growl until after it had already left my lips. My eyes darted about the room anxiously looking for something or someone threatening, but found nothing. Only the dust and shadows that had been in the old safe house were there. _I don't understand. Why did she call my name, if nothing's here? _I sniffed and listened thinking maybe something could just be cloaking its appearance. Still nothing. As the confidence in her safety began to return, I stopped growling and the wolf stopped snarling, though we both remained tense and at the ready. _I don't get it. _I ran my fingers through my damp hair in confusion as I stood up.

Turning to Chloe, I carefully inspected her form. _Heart rate normal, breathing patterns calm, eyes closed, slight smile. What? She's still sleeping! But, I could've sworn I heard her call my name. I know I wasn't imagining it! Maybe you're just going insane. This is what you get for not chasing after her earlier when you had the chance. Shut up. I need to figure this out, and the last thing I need right now is your cockiness. Well, considering I'm a part of you, don't you mean your own cockiness? After all, it's not my fault that you can't deal with your own thoughts. _My inner argument was abruptly ended when Chloe moved, drawing all my attention to her sleeping body. She rolled over, her body now facing me, and spoke again.

"Derek. No. Don't. Wait." Chloe's face contorted from her previous smile into one of pain.

_She's talking in her sleep. So, she did call my name. See, I'm not insane, in fact, she's dreaming about me. But, "no" and "don't"? What am I doing? She's not dreaming about me. She's having a nightmare about me! What if she's afraid of me? What if I'm hurting her? No. I can't let her go through that, real or not. I have to wake her up! _I laid my hand on Chloe's arm and gently shook her. "Chloe. Wake up. Chloe!" I was whispering because I didn't want anyone else in the house to awaken and join us, but the whispering wasn't cutting it. She wasn't waking up, and to top it off the look of pain disappeared and had been replaced by sadness. _No. Chloe! What's going on?_ I knelt down by her bed, lowering my head near her ear while I continued to shake her. "Chloe. Please, please wake up," I pleaded. I was going to be losing it soon myself if I couldn't wake her up and stop whatever horror I was causing her in her dream world. "Wake up. Chloe!" My whispers were becoming frantic and I jostled her body a little faster.

I saw Chloe's eyes flutter a little and stopped shaking, though I refused to move my hand from its current position on her upper arm. "Chloe? Chloe? Are you awake?" Finally, she scrunched up her eyes and nose tightly, and then yawned a little while opening them.

She was surprised to see me, to say the least. "D-Derek?" She yawned again. "What are you doing here?" Chloe's eyes were inquisitive and her forehead was scrunched in confusion. As cute as she looked though, I still couldn't get over what I had heard her say earlier. _"Derek. No. Don't. Wait." _The phrase echoed over and over through my mind. _I have to know what happened in her nightmare. I have to know if I hurt her. _I fixated my intense stare on her, waiting for her to tell me.

"Wait? I don't understand? What's wrong? Are you changing? Is the Edison Group ba—" I cut her off. "No. We're not under attack, and I'm not changing, at least, not yet." I really didn't have time for these questions. I needed to know now. If Chloe's subconscious was giving her nightmares where I was the aggressor, then that would mean that Chloe could be afraid of me. _No. Chloe would never fear you. She's your mate, and she loves you. Remember in the bed? Remember when she didn't want to leave? Yes. Of course I remember, but that still doesn't change the fact that she was just having a nightmare, and I was in it, and she wanted me to stop doing something. I have to know._

"Then what exactly are you doing here? I don't understand. What's wrong?" I could see the worry in her eyes now. She was worried about me, when this entire time I was worried about causing her pain. Chloe pushed herself up and sat on her bed cross-legged facing me. I simultaneously let my arm and face fall, dropping my body so that I was sitting on the floor staring at my hands which I began shifting nervously in my lap.

Now that I had the chance, I wasn't sure how I was going to ask her? _You see Chloe. I realized you were having a nightmare about me so I had to wake you up. Are you really afraid of me?_ _Well, is there really any other way to do it? Umm…I guess not. You know what the answer is going to be though. You mean that I'm a monster and that she's second thought her decision to be with me and would rather be with Simon? No, you idiot. That she's not afraid of you, and that you were just jumping to conclusions. Did not. Did to._

"Derek?" I looked up and saw Chloe's eyes boring into me. _Oh, right. I need to answer!_

"Well…umm…you see..um…the reason I'm here is because I was walking back from the shower, and you um…well, you kind of…um…um…,"

"It's okay Derek. You can tell me." She looked so understanding just then, that any fears I had of telling her were completely dismissed.

"You see, you kind of called out to me in your sleep." She looked confused.

"W-what do you mean? I "called out to you"?"

"You called my name. Twice. The first time I thought I was just imagining it. But then I heard it again, and knew you had really called me."

Understanding dawned on Chloe's face, and a bright red blush spread across her cheeks. _Huh? Why is she blushing?_

"O-oh. That m-makes sen-sense I g-g-guess. I was kind of d-dream-dreaming about you." She tore her gaze away from mine and began staring out the window.

"You see, the thing is Chloe, I didn't realize you were dreaming. Or even asleep for that matter. I just heard you call my name and I immediately flipped out thinking you were in danger. So I came running in her to protect you, but then I realized there was nothing here to protect you from. I was confused so I looked at you closer, and that's when I realized that you were asleep. At first, when I had thought you were saying my name because you were dreaming about me, I, well, I got kind of excited. It made me happy, you know?" I saw Chloe's face turn up into a smile, even though she still didn't look at me.

"But then…then you said those words." I felt a lump forming in my throat and decided to stop and try and calm myself.

Chloe's head snapped back to meet me, and she looked…I couldn't really put a finger on it. _Scared. She looks scared, _the wolf informed me, and I could feel his disappointment. _See, she really is afraid of me. But, but. I don't understand. How could she be afraid of us? She's your mate, she's not supposed to be afraid. _I could feel the pain in my chest and my heart breaking, with that look. The mere idea of Chloe being afraid of me and losing her was enough to destroy me.

"What words?" She asked demandingly.

"You…you said, 'Derek. Don't. No. Wait.' I assumed that you were having a nightmare about me," I paused taking in a deep breath before continuing, "and I saw your face. Chloe, you looked first like you were in pain, and then extremely sad. I couldn't bear to see you in pain because of me, so I woke you up." I looked down not wanting, to see the fear in her eyes any more.

"Oh, that's it. You scared me. And here I thought I had said something that was going to make you leave me."

_Leave her, what? She's the one that wants to leave me. _Chloe gently placed her hands on either side of Derek's face, and tilted it upwards to look at her. The sadness he experienced was almost palpable, as his green eyes glistened from the little light that shone in through the window.

"Derek. I wasn't having a nightmare about you. In fact, quite the contrary, it was a very pleasant dream of you and I." She smiled and began running the fingers of her left hand through my hair, while repositioning the right hand under my chin so that it could hold my head up without the aid of the other.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the strokes of her fingers against my scalp. _But it still doesn't make sense. You just can't let it go can you? You've got a good thing going right now so don't blow it. _The wolf was enjoying Chloe's action too, and didn't want them to stop because Derek said something stupid.

"But then, why did you say those words?" I opened my eyes, and Chloe's fingers stopped moving. The wolf growled. _Which part of "Don't blow it" did you not understand? Sorry, it's not like I wanted her to stop either, but I have to know. It hurts to much to think that she could just be hiding her fear from me._

"Because," Chloe's face took on a serious expression, "in my dream. We had an argument."

"An argument?" I cocked my head to the side slightly, but not enough to make her fingers leave my head. _Argument? Okay, now I'm confused._

"You see, in my dream, you were going to change soon, and you thought it might be the last one. But you were afraid of losing control and hurting me after you changed, so you said that I couldn't come." _Okay, I'm definitely with her on this. I really don't want her to be there for the last one, not if it means I'll risk hurting her. _I could see the tears that were building up, threatening to overflow, making her eyes sparkle. _What? I don't understand. Why is she going to cry? It's not like it was a real fight, it was just in her dream. Not that I haven't been over this with her before…but still. Why the tears?_

"It hurt me Derek." _What? I hurt her? After I changed? No!_ "It hurt that you didn't want me there, that you wouldn't let me come. I know you would never harm me even after you change. But for some reason, you couldn't see that. I tried to explain it to you, to reason with you, but you just wouldn't budge and finally you ran off into the woods, leaving me alone. It was awful." _Well, that settles that. No arguing with her over whether or not she's coming with me. If I don't want to make her endure that pain again, then I have to let her come. And she's right, the wolf chose her as his mate too, so why would he want to hurt her? _

Her tears finally began to fall, as they made wet shiny tracks down her cheeks. _No, Chloe. Don't cry, I love you. _I grabbed both of her hands in my own removing them from my face and bringing them up to her knees as I lifted myself up off the ground and situated myself on the bed next to her. "Chloe." She looked up from where our hands sat joined resting on her lap. "You don't have to worry. I'll never leave you, and I'll let you come with me during my change."

She hiccupped slightly as she tried to calm herself. "R-r-really?"

"Really. I love you." Chloe smiled as she tried to regain composure. As the last tear fell down her cheek, I leaned over and tenderly kissed it away. _She has such soft skin, _I thought as I pulled away.

"I don't like seeing you cry."

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it. The thought of l-l-losing y-you terrified m-me." Chloe bit down on her lip, trying to stop her cursed stuttering. However, all this served to do was to draw my attention to her lips. As she calmed herself she released it, revealing how slightly red and swollen it was. My mind was immediately bombarded with images of the brief kiss from earlier, as well as other possible future kisses. The wolf snickered at this. _Future? How about making some of that in the present? You know, for once I'm not going to argue. _

I leaned forward again pressing my lips to Chloe's. The minute I made contact a shockwave radiated through my body, simultaneously both painful and pleasant. That wasn't the only thing that happened though; the minute I kissed her I heard Chloe's heart rate speed up and felt her body stiffen. As much as the feeling urged me to continue, I didn't want to force anything on Chloe that she wasn't ready for, so I pulled away, looking down at the little space on the bed that was separating us. _She didn't kiss me back? Does that mean she doesn't want to kiss me? How many times to I have to tell you? Stop. Jumping. To. Conclusions. But…I mean…I just basically kissed her without her consent. She's probably mad at me. Just stop it. She kissed you earlier, remember? She didn't want to leave your side when you were laying in your bed. She just cried her eyes out for fear of losing you. For God sakes man, get a grip and accept the obvious! But… But nothing. She's your mate. I repeat: your MATE. She is yours, and you have every right to kiss her. I know, I know. And believe me, I want nothing more to continue right now, but I can't help but feel that it wasn't right somehow. After all, she was just crying, isn't that kind of like taking advantage of her when she's vulnerable? _

"Chloe, I'm sorry." I did the best to try and hide the shame in my voice while tightening my grip on her hands hoping that she would understand and not be angry with me. "I know I shouldn't have do…" I was interrupted as Chloe quickly slipped out one of her hands and brought it to my lips, gently placing her cool finger over them.

"No, Derek. Don't apologize. There's no need. I was just a little shocked that's all." I looked up at her, hopeful, trying to see if she was lying. _No. If she was lying, she'd be stuttering. My Chloe is such a bad liar._

"Actually," as the word reached me it felt like my heart stopped. _Oh no. She changed her mind. She really is mad. _I began to panic.

"I think I do deserve an apology." Chloe adopted a fox-like mischievous grin on her face, which confused the hell out of me. Noticing my confusion, and seemingly expecting it, she elaborated.

"I deserve an apology Derek Souza," Chloe took the finger from my lips and her other hand from mine as she draped her arms around my neck, "because you pulled away before I wanted you too. You didn't even give me a chance to kiss you back."

My mouth dropped, I was dumbfounded. _Ha, Ha. Told you so. Now, kiss her again, I'm getting tired of waiting. _"I, I'm sorry?" To me it was more of a question than a statement, I still couldn't believe what she had just said. _Maybe I imagined it. Wishful thinking, that's all._

"That's better. Now," Chloe's grip on my neck tightened as she pulled me in closer. _Okay, now I definitely didn't ima—_her lips landed on mine.

This time I didn't have to think and my reaction kicked in immediately as I began to move my lips against Chloe's. Seemingly by instinct, because God only knows what the hell else it could have been, I parted my lips ever so slightly, brushing it against Chloe's bottom lip. _Nothing. Damn. _

_Closer.........must…get…closer. _The sensations zipping through my body were making it hard to think. I maneuvered one of my arms so that one was wrapped around the small of her back, while the other slid beneath her legs. Once my arm was completely underneath the crook of her knees, I lifted her up and set her on my lap.

Chloe let out a small squeak in surprise and broke the kiss. _No. _A growl escaped at the new unsatisfactory conditions. It only took about a millisecond for her to realize the proximity of our bodies, and she began to speak "D-D-Derek, wh-why…" _No. No more talking. Need._

Quickly re-adjusting so the arm under her knees went to the back of her neck, I crushed her body to mine, and before she could finish speaking, I captured her lips. _Ughhh… _No doubt I was kissing her more insistently this time, and it became difficult for Chloe to keep my pace. Finding her bottom lip again I let my tongue run across it, _Open._, but no response. _Open._ I bit down on the same lip ever so gently, but definitely hard enough that it wouldn't go unnoticed. Something caught half-way between a moan and a gasp escaped as she opened her mouth. _Finally. _My tongue darted into her mouth before she had the chance to close it again, and I began my exploration. _Mouth…so…warm…so…sweet…_ I left nowhere untouched, and I heard Chloe let out a quiet moan.

Her hand made its way up my neck and into my hair scraping her nails delicately across my scalp. _Ahh…_ my body shuddered involuntarily. I wasn't completely sure, but for a second I thought I had felt the corners of her mouth twitch upward in a pleased smile. In my moment of weakness, Chloe grabbed my hair and pulled my face into hers, thrusting her own tongue into my mouth. Chloe's exploration was just as eager and even more pleasurable than mine had been, sending an entirely new wave of desire through me. My skin was hot. Her body was singing it wherever it touched me, and I loved it.

Finally, we were forced to break apart for air. Our foreheads rested against one another as we stared at one another panting. I watched as Chloe ran her tongue over her now swollen lips, and immediately became painfully aware that the only clothing I was wearing was my boxers. _Now why is that? I don't remember removing my clothing. _Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the white towel that laid next to us on Chloe's bed. _Oh, right, shower. _My breathing still hadn't calmed down at all, but staring at Chloe's sparkling eyes and the lips that were now plump and red by my doing, I doubted it would be able to calm any time soon. Staring at her was when I realized my other "problem," on that would become a lot more noticeable if I sat in here any longer. _Somehow I doubt even Chloe would be okay with that. _

I lifted my head away from Chloe's, and couldn't help but feel myself smile as a frown developed on her expression. I glanced over toward the digital clock on her dresser: 12:47. I had spent over an hour in her room. For the second time that night I ran my arm under her knees and lifted, gently turning and laying her down on her bed. She looked at me with an extremely confused expression on her face. Planting each hand on the bed on either side of her shoulders I leaned over her.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Chloe's question came out kind of shaky, and she shivered as our bodies reached a distance of only two inches apart. _Oh, she is definitely not making this easy. _I stiffened and leaned down giving her a sweet and affectionate kiss. _So, not easy._ I pulled my face away only a few centimeters before explaining.

"It's almost 1:00 in the morning. Sadly, we have to wake up early tomorrow to hear about whatever the hell it is Andrew wants." I planted another kiss on her soft lips. "Believe me, I would love to continue what we were doing, but you need to sleep. You get so little of it as it is, that I worry about you." Another kiss, and I reached one of my arms down to pull the comforter over her.

"I don't care," she broke in, "I wouldn't mind losing a bit of sleep if…"

"That's not the only reason," I confessed.

"Hmm?"

I looked into her eyes and said very seriously. "If I stayed in here, well, I'm not sure how much longer I could have controlled myself." I couldn't keep eye contact any more and turned my head away sheepishly. "Chloe, you have no idea the effect you have on me."

She giggled lightly and I turned back to her confused. "Actually, I-I t-think I do." She said somewhat awkwardly but amused. _Damn. She noticed._ I turned my head in shame.

"I…I…I'm sorry."

She placed a hand to my cheek and gently turned it back to face her, before grabbing hold of my jaw and pulling it down to meet her waiting lips. The kiss was tender and it surprised me. _I had thought that she'd be angry?_ "It's okay Derek. I understand." She kissed me again before releasing my jaw.

"I love you Chloe."

"I love you too." Even her small smile was radiating with warmth.

I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Good night."

She reached placed her hand on my cheek again and stroked it with her thumb. I tilted into her palm. "Good night."

With our good nights said, I tucked her in and grabbed my towel off her bed. Standing up my foot slid on something as I fell, sitting on her bed again. _What the?_ I looked down to find my clothes from earlier, which I had apparently dropped on the floor when I had first rushed into her room earlier that night. Scooping them up I walked towards the door, only pausing for a moment to turn around and gaze on my already sleeping mate.

Walking into my room, I threw the dirty laundry into a pile in the corner and dropped my body on the bed. _Wow. _It was the only word I could think of as I replayed the events of the night over and over in my head. Finally, the picture became hazy and drifted into a light sleep.

…._8:00 AM…_

_*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*_

_Ahhh!!! _I grabbed my pillow and threw it as hard as I could at Simon's head; somehow, he was still sleeping through screeching noise. It was his alarm clock to begin with; I had never kept any because the volume and pitch had always felt like small daggers stabbing through my hypersensitive ears, much as they were doing right now.

I grabbed the comforter pulling it over my head, using it to muffle the sound slightly as I pressed my hands tightly to my ears. _God damn stupid alarm clock! _"Simon, wake the hell up and turn that thing OFF!!!" Another three screeches later, the room finally fell into silence. _Finally. Relief. _I let my muscles relax again and slid the comforter off, sitting up, and promptly giving a death glare to my half-awake, half-asleep brother.

"Hey D, sorry about that," was all he had to say as he ran his hands through his blond beadhead trying to wake himself up. _Sorry? Sorry? That's all you have to say! Do you have any idea what kind of amazing dream I was having when you're stupid alarm woke me up! _The images from my previous dream danced through my mind, and I couldn't help but sigh, my scowl quickly forgotten. It's not so much like my dream was anything special, well it was, but at the same time it wasn't. Chloe and I were together in my dream, sitting on a couch watching a movie, something she obviously had picked out given that during it she kept telling me all these little tidbits about the effects, plot development, shots, actors, and of course the director. Of course, I hadn't really been paying any attention to the movie, except for when she would tell me to watch for something particular, in which case I did it to please her. Most of the time I was just listening to her talk and watching her as she grew excited and happy at all the different twists and turns. No, my dream wasn't anything special. But it was wonderful. There was nothing but calm happiness in it…no other werewolves, no Edison Group, no ghosts…just Chloe and I. I loved it. _And then his stupid alarm clock! _Some of my prior aggravation came back as I remembered what had torn me away from that couch.

"What the hell, did you set your alarm to 8 AM for anyways?" I asked in a clipped tone.

"I told you last night remember?" I didn't respond.

"Come on…early morning…Andrew…weird secret…" _Oh._

"Oh, yeah. That's right I had totally forgotten." _Not that I didn't exactly have a good reason to forget. I kind of got a little distracted last night after all. _

Simon and I both got up and dressed. _At least it's not hard to find clean clothes anymore_, I thought to myself thankfully. Andrew and Izanami, the human wife of another supernatural in the house as well as the head of the safe house, had gone shopping during the first week after their arrival, once they realized that each of them had at most about three pairs of clothes. Andrew had gotten sizes from both Derek and Simon; knowing their personalities and tastes already he didn't really have any trouble choosing clothes for them. Izanami however had to have a two hour session with each girl to go over what they liked and didn't. Derek laughed to himself at the thought of Chloe talking for two hours about clothes; somehow he just couldn't believe it and was convinced that they had to have talked about something else too. _But what?_

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**Okay, so technically this wasn't the entirety of the chapter, which is why it's only "Part 1". I know you guys are annoyed with me and tired of waiting but I'm sorry. What can I say, to make it up to you, nothing right? So why bother trying. The only thing I can do is finally find some spare time to finish this freaking chapter that's been holding me up forever. Anyway, this is only about half of it. I'll work on the second half when I get the chance, and the chapter after it is already finished. **

Once again, notify me of any mistakes and I'll fix them.

**I know you're mad, but please review anyway. Pretty please! That was my first real kiss to write, and I want to know how I did. So again, pretty please with a green button on top****?**


	5. Confusion: Part 2

**Okay, so I have done some new things with this chapter. Number one, when Derek is talking (or rather arguing) with the wolf, the wolf's thoughts will be **_**underlined **_**while Derek's will just be in normal **_**italics**_**. I did this because I realized reading over the story how confusing a conversation can get between the two sometimes. Number two, I tried writing in third person. If you review, which of course I hope you do, then let me know what you thought. Does the first person sound better or the third person? **

**Important: This chapter was originally 25 pages long and still not finished, but since I felt bad for making you wait, I decided to divide it up even farther. This posted part will be part two, and then what's left will either be posted as the next chapter or will be further subdivided into two more parts, I haven't quite decided yet. **

**Ooh, and second, new characters. ^_^ I own them but anyone else is more than welcome to use them in their fanfics. In fact, I would be honored, just let me know in a message or something so I can go read it.**

**Also, since apparently I forgot to copy and paste this in my last chapters:**

**Disclaimer: Really? The rights to Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers series aren't for sale? But I could've sworn.**

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Confusion: Part 2

Finally, Simon and Derek headed downstairs and rounded the corner to the kitchen where they found Izanami about half-way finished with cooking breakfast. Of course, Derek had known she was cooking before he ever saw her; his stomach had growled as soon as he was able to smell the bacon, biscuits, sausage, and ham from the top of the stairs. He couldn't wait for another one of her hot meals: Izanami almost always cooked breakfast, the few exceptions being only when she wasn't feeling well or when someone else woke up extra early and volunteered, which was obviously a rare occurrence. She was a wonderful cook and had great organizing skills. These two combined had eventually led her to become the primary keeper of the safe house, maintaining its condition to make sure the ancient building didn't fall into shambles, and even developing a new system to record all supernaturals and humans who had ever come through the refuge since her arrival. She and her husband lived together on the third floor of the house in one of the larger bedrooms, in addition to sharing an office on the first floor, and, at present, they were the only other individuals residing in the house with Andrew and the group of on-the-run teens.

She had turned and smiled when the boys walked in, even before either had made a sound. For a non-supernatural she was surprisingly in-tune with the people around her, almost to the point where it was kind of creepy – like she had eyes in the back of her head and ears all around the house that informed her of what was going on – the woman knew everything.

"Good morning Simon. Good morning Derek." Izanami had added a coy grin and special tone when she addressed Derek, clearly signaling him that she already knew. He froze in place as the woman smiled knowingly at him. _Oh shit. How does she know? How could she know? Don't say anything. Please, don't say anything, not in front of Simon. I'll tell him, I swear, just not yet. _He was pleading to her with his eyes. Simon was glancing back and forth between the two trying to figure out what exactly was going on in front of him, when Izanami simply nodded to Derek and turned around flipping some of the bacon strips sizzling in the frying pan in front of her. _Thank you_, Derek thought as Izanami nodded. Once she turned around he continued over to the table and took a seat near the end. Simon chose to occupy the one across from him.

"Umm…Derek? What exactly was that?" Simon asks, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder gesturing roughly to where the incident occurred.

"What are you talking about? Nothing happened. It was nothing." Derek mumbled a little too quickly for his own good.

"Right. So I just imagined that whole stare down between you and Izanami? What's the deal, I know you're not telling me something."

"It's nothing Simon, really," Derek forced out. He hated lying to Simon, even if it was only temporary. _I just have to wait until Chloe wakes up, and then we can talk about how to break it to Simon. _

As Simon opened his mouth to protest, Izanami broke in. "So boys, how do you want your eggs and how many do you want? And Derek, I have plenty so there's no need to be shy." She laughed, as Derek's embarrassed gasp could be heard across the room.

"Werewolves appetites are well known, and you're not the first werewolf to come through here. The minute you guys came and I learned you what you were, I altered my shopping list to plan ahead. This is why we never run out of food. Careful planning, organization, and the entire house runs smoothly," she explained proudly. Simon laughed and Derek just grunted.

"So?..." Neither of the boys answered her, having already forgotten her question during the span of her mini-rant on preparedness, "...the eggs?"

"Oh," Simon was the first to respond, "I'll take mine over-easy, and I'll take two please." He looked to Derek, nodding to signal his turn.

Derek looked to Izanami who had turned her head to watch the boys over her shoulder as they gave her their breakfast orders. "Six for me in whatever way to cook them is easiest." She nodded, and, with a quick smile, went back to flipping the other items already cooking, not to turn around again until the others would arrive.

"Simon, could you do me a favor?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, sure Izanami. What is it?" Simon replied, glad that the quietness of the room had been broken.

"I need you to go out to the freezer in the garage and grab another three packages of bacon for tomorrow. It should be in the freezer on the left, that one has mostly meat in it, if you open it up and see pizza and things of that nature, then I'm wrong and it's the one of the right."

"Okay, no problem," Simon stated as he rose up out of his chair and left the kitchen.

Once they heard the front door close, Izanami began speaking very quickly, "Now Derek. We don't have much time. Given my estimations it should only take your brother about three to five minutes before he gets back here with that bacon. So?"

Derek was dumbfounded. _What does she want to talk with me about, that she needs to get rid of Simon for? _"So…?"

Izanami sighed at his lack of understanding, "Exactly when do you plan on telling Simon about Chloe and yourself? Also, when do you plan on informing Andrew? Tori shouldn't really matter too much, but the other two I would worry about."

Derek was shocked. Sure, he had assumed she knew with the whole incident when they first came in, but somehow to hear her just come out and say it all like that was a little surprising. "Umm…well…I'm not sure exactly. I've been asking those same questions myself. I need to talk to Chloe about it today, and see what she thinks. Then we'll decide together, but honestly I can't help but be worried. I mean, Simon likes her and I basically took her out from under him without him even knowing it. You're right about Andrew too. I know he's still afraid of me for some reason, and I'm worried that he'll try to keep Chloe from me. She's my mate, and I will not have her taken away, but at the same time I don't want Andrew to yell at us or anything just for being together. Chloe doesn't deserve to be in trouble just because of me." He wasn't sure why, but for some reason Derek felt comfortable talking with Izanami. She was one of the few adults that his instincts didn't seem to signal him to put up his guard around. Maybe it was because of her demeanor, or maybe it was because there was no point, seeing as she just ended up knowing everything anyway somehow.

Izanami nodded as she continued with her cooking. "I understand your concerns Derek, but I think the sooner you tell them the better. If you wait too long then they'll feel betrayed that you were lying to them, and that's likely to get you into even more trouble." They heard the door close as Simon's footsteps approached the kitchen and their conversation was cut off.

"Hey, Izanami, I got the bacon, what do you want me to do with it?" he asked stepping through the doorway and waving the three frozen packages in his hands as he walked over by the table where Derek sat, still a little confused over this most recent conversation.

"Just put it in the fridge, please? Thank you, Simon, for the help." Simon walked over to the fridge and opened it. From where he sat Derek turned his head to see his brother staring very confusedly at the open fridge. Izanami was organized with everything when it came to the house, and everything had a place.

"Uhh…." Simon muttered befuddled as to where the bacon went, and not wanting to put it in the wrong place for fear of upsetting Izanami and starting her on one of her mini-rampages. The house wasn't a fun place when she got angry, and this only needed to happen once, as it had on the third day after their arrival, for them to realize this.

Chuckling lightly at his confusion, Izanami pointed her spatula towards Simon, flicking it about with her wrist in accordance with the directions she gave him. "Third drawer down on the left. Also, could you please bring me two cartons of eggs while you're in there? Second shelf on the right. Then set them on the counter here please." She pointed the spatula at a specific spot on the tile counter before continuing with her cooking.

"Of course," Simon shoved the bacon in the drawer and brought the eggs to her, setting them on the counter as instructed. "Is there anything else you need help with?"

"Sure, you can help me more in a minute; this meat is just about finished. But in the mean time, Derek, would you please go wake up the others. I'm sure Andrew's already up, but could you have him wake up my dear Jason, then you can wake up Tori and Chloe. Tell them that I'm making breakfast and to get down here quick before I don't feel like cooking for them anymore. That should kick their butts into gear," she said as she chuckled.

Derek simply grunted his acknowledgement before heading out of the kitchen, rounding the corner, and ascending the old wooden steps. Though the house itself was well over 150 years old, numerous renovations had been done over the course of history. Not to mention, when the house was occupied by supernaturals the old things tended to get destroyed and need replacing a bit more frequently than they would in the average home. For instance, when a witch got mad at her husband instead of throwing a lamp at the door she simply would send an energy ball flying at it, successfully destroying the door. Due to just this type of history, in addition to the numerous larger battles which would have occurred here, by now the house was fairly up to date. This staircase was probably one of the few remaining components of the original design. As Derek reached the top of the stairs and turned right on the second floor. He continued following the hall even after it had made a sharp right turn, leading him to a part of the house which had been uninhabited for some time. This deserted area of the second floor, he found had a bathroom much like the one the teens shared back by the staircase only decorated in some tacky tile most likely from the 70s, numerous unused studies, and some larger empty rooms, purpose unknown at present, including one with a mirrored wall. Seeing these, Derek made a mental note to ask Izanami about them at breakfast, and continued on his journey until on his right appeared another staircase. Taking it, he arrived on the third floor. He followed this hallway as well, in the exact opposite direction he had on the second floor, passing more bedrooms, studies, and four libraries, until finally reaching the left turn in the hallway that would lead him to Andrew's room. _Third one from the end on the right,_ Derek reminded himself so he didn't end up disturbing Jason. That was supposed to be Andrew's job, and he didn't want to get chewed out for waking the notoriously grouchy man up if he didn't have to.

Derek reached the door and knocked. "Hey Andrew, you up?" The door opened to reveal an awake, if somewhat stressed out, Andrew with an awful case of bed-head that had yet to be tamed by a comb.

"Yeah Derek, I'm up. What do you need?" Andrew replied as he let out a defeated sounding sigh and looked at the teen.

"Izanami told me to get everyone up. Breakfast is almost ready, and she said that you're supposed to get up Jason. She expects you down their soon."

"Okay, tell her we'll be down in about ten minutes or so, depending on exactly how long it takes me to wake Jason up. Is there anything else?"

"Nope. That's it. I guess I'll go wake up the girls now," and with that Derek turned, reversing his previous trek through the halls and back to the second floor, while Andrew closed his door and began getting ready for the morning.

_Hmmm…._Derek thought as he walked towards the girls rooms, _Chloe or Tori first? If I wake up Tori then it will be like saving the best for last, but then if I wake up Chloe first I'll get a chance to talk to her without anyone interrupting…_

Having made his decision, Derek opened the door to Chloe's room, but stopped only two steps in the room. Peering over her peacefully sleeping figure, he didn't want to disturb her. _She's been having so many nightmares lately, and of course the one night of good sleep she gets not only is it interrupted by me, not that I regret that in the slightest, but also it's the morning we have to get up early. I need to let her sleep as long as possible…_

With that he backpedaled out of Chloe's room, softly closing the door as not to wake her, and headed one door down to Tori's room. Derek knocked softly on the door at first, but seeing as he could still hear Tori's snores coming steadily, she definitely wasn't awake and simple knocking definitely wasn't going to do it. He opened the door to Tori's room, revealing a mirror image of the one in which Chloe slept, with the exception of the fact that in the corner of the room were Tori's clothes and not Chloe's, and in this room he had absolutely no problem whatsoever with waking the sleeping girl in front of him. Walking over and leaning against her dresser, Derek crossed his arms over his chest, "Tori, wake up." Nothing; the snores continued. Derek walked over to her placing his hand on her shoulder and jostling her a bit while saying, "Wake up." The sound of her snores changed, becoming more exaggerated and comical, as she tried to pretend she was still asleep. Derek simply stood, crossed his arms over his chest, stared down at her, and grunted. "Tori, breakfast is almost ready, Izanami sent me to wake you all up, and Andrew wants to talk to us, so get your lazy ass out of bed. I know you're just pretending to be asleep anyway."

Instantly, the snores silenced and Tori groaned, scowling angrily up at him. "Why the hell does he need to talk to us in the morning anyway? Couldn't he just wait until at least around 11:00?" Derek remained standing there like a statue staring at her. He wasn't going to be happy until Tori was at least sitting up, to confirm that she wouldn't fall back asleep, and she knew it. "Ugh. Fine. Okay. I'm up." She pushed herself reluctantly into a sitting position swinging her legs off the bed, and setting her feet on the floor. Derek, satisfied, simply nodded and left the room to go awaken Chloe.

Freezing at her door temporarily, Derek sighed. _Maybe I can let her sleep a little longer. No, Izanami wants us down there now. Not to mention the fact that Tori would throw a fit if Chloe got to sleep-in and she didn't. _Finally resigning himself to fate, Derek turned the doorknob and headed over to Chloe's bedside. She was laying on her side facing away from the wall and toward the room where Derek stood staring down at his sleeping mate. _She's so beautiful. Hm… I could kiss her awake. I wonder how she would react? _In the other room he could hear Tori grumbling to herself about how stupid it was they had to wake up early. _Nope. Better not risk it. Wouldn't want Tori walking in and having everyone find out before we're ready. _He sat down on the edge of Chloe's bed in front of her stomach, and reached his palm out to caress her smooth cheek. Her lips turned up in a small smile as he stroked her, making him smile as well, inwardly at least. Derek brushed the numerous stray hairs out of her face before leaning down and quietly saying, "Chloe. Chloe, love, it's time to wake up."

As her eyes fluttered open she noticed the hand resting on her cheek. A little surprised, she turned her head to see who it was and came almost nose to nose with Derek. Chloe smile, "Good morning Derek."

"Good morning. How'd you sleep? You looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake you, but Izanami gave me orders to get everyone up so I had to. Dream well? No more arguments I hope."

Chloe chuckled at the last bit. "Excellent. I did have quite enjoyable dreams. And no, no more arguments."

"I'm glad," was all Derek said.

"So," Chloe's voice became a whisper as she looked towards the open door and back to Derek, seemingly checking to see if anyone else was listening to their conversation, "do you want to know what I was dreaming about?"

"Sure," Derek said whispering back, as he dropped his forehead to rest against hers.

"I don't know. It's a pretty big secret. I don't know if you can handle it," she told him in a teasingly sarcastic tone.

Derek played along wishing to humor her, "I can handle it. Please tell me." At this, he parted them, providing enough distance between the two allowing Chloe a view of all of his face at once, as opposed to just his eyes. He made a mock-pouting/sad face, similar to that of a five year old boy when his mother tells him he can't have his Halloween candy for breakfast. Chloe laughed at this, having never seen him make such an expression before. In truth, Derek couldn't remember ever making an expression like this before, but when he was around his mate it didn't matter. His composure no longer mattered, and he could finally just relax and act normally...well as normal as a 16 year old, genetically altered werewolf, with a necromancer mate and sorcerer brother, on the run from a crazy organization out to either kill them or experiment on them, could get.

"Okay. I was dreaming of you," the smile never left her face and her voice never faltered as she spoke.

At this Derek's left eyebrow rose as he said suggestively, "Oh really now? Now what ever could they be about I wonder?" The minute she had told him, a dozen or so images of possible dreams she was having flashed through his mind, none of them very clean.

Catching the meaning in his tone, Chloe blushed as she pushed him in the shoulder, "Derek."

Derek then heard Tori opening her door and froze, leaning down to kiss Chloe on the forehead for a millisecond before standing up quickly. Chloe looked confused to say the least. "Derek? What's wrong?" He simply, gestured to her open door with his head, and about five seconds later Tori walked by, turning in her head and stopping in the doorway.

"Come on Chloe. If I have to get up, then you're going to have to too. Just because your little miss peppy and everyone loves you doesn't mean you get special privileges." Chloe sat up, crossing her legs Indian-style, and smiled at the scowling Tori.

"I know Tori. I'm up. I was just talking to Derek. I'll be down in a few minutes."

Tori made a huffing noise followed by a short "Whatever" before heading downstairs to join Simon, Izanami, and the now present Andrew and Jason in the kitchen.

After she was safely out of hearing distance, Derek turned to face Chloe who was still staring absentmindedly at the empty doorway where Tori had been. "Chloe, we need to talk."

The second he finished speaking Chloe's head snapped up to face him. There was a mixture of emotions, primarily fear and rage, that flashed behind her sapphire orbs. "Derek," she said with an ominously serious tone…

Derek flinched. Maybe not visibly, but at the moment Chloe's dramatic mood swing definitely was scaring the crap out of him. _Oh no. Oh no. Crap. What did I do? She's mad. Very mad. And afraid? This is bad. __Stupid._

"Never," Chloe continued…_Very bad_… "and I mean NEVER, say those words to me." Derek stood there like an idiot shocked at her seriousness. _Why would she not want me to talk to her? What did I do? Why is she mad? __Because you're an idiot that's why.__ Huh? What are you talking about? __Come on. Even you know that those are the some of the four most hated words in the English language.__ What? Why? __Think about it. You know. And if not, judging by her scent and behavior, she's extremely pissed off. So I'd be willing to bet you're about to find out._

He hadn't responded quick enough for her. "Derek. Do you understand? You are never to say those words to me."

"O-of course," _Great now I'm the one stuttering. _"Can I just ask you one question though."

Chloe's mood began to shift back to her normal as she rose out of bed and walked over to her dresser to chose her clothes for the day, "Sure. What is it?"

"Well, why? I know this may sound dumb and it's something I'm supposed to know. But I don't understand why."

Chloe, turned to him cocking her head to the side confused. "Why, what?"

Derek's sighed. "Why I shouldn't say that. Don't get me wrong, I never will say it again. Believe me. I've never seen you like that before and to be honest it kind of scared me. Note to self: never get you pissed at me."

At that Chloe laughed, "Well, of course you shouldn't make me angry with you. After all, then you would be in the dog house, or rather wolf house so to speak. And of course when you're in there you don't get to do the things that you obviously enjoy oh so much."

"Huh?"

Chloe blushed lightly before waving her hand in the air, symbolically brushing away the topic. "N-never mind. It's n-not important. Anyway, to answer your question. The reason you are to never speak those words, nor will I to you, is because those words signify the doomed ending of all relationships."

"What?"

"Have you never watched a movie? In couples, whenever one party wishes to break up with the other, they always begin by approaching said individual and saying, 'We need to talk'. Even when they want to be friends afterwards it still always starts that way and the other individual still always ends up crushed. Do you understand now? This is why you will never say those words to me. And I mean it Derek. NEVER."

"Yes. I understand completely. And don't worry; you don't ever have to worry about me wanting to break up with you. You're my mate Chloe, so that simply will not happen."

She walked up to him and poked him in the chest, "Good. It better not. Because if it did, then you'd get to see me really angry." Though her tone was sarcastic, he could see the seriousness in her eyes.

With that Derek was silenced, and Chloe walked back over to her dresser. "Well, you better get downstairs."

"What about you?" Derek walked to her door, but stopped and turned toward her before leaving.

Chloe smiled at him before saying, "Well, I suppose I could go down now. But do you really think I should be showing off my pajamas to the whole house?"

For the first time Derek actually realized what she was wearing. _Oh. Wow. Um, yeah. __She's definitely not going downstairs like that. _The wolf growled. _Yeah, I know. Don't worry. She's changing, and even if she didn't want to, there's no way any of the other guys are going to see her like this. _Derek was noticeably scanning his eyes up and down Chloe's body. The only clothing visible was her green and pink plaid boxers and royal purple wife beater.

"Umm…Derek," Chloe was embarrassed and blushing profusely.

"Huh?" He practically drug his eyes back to hers.

"Do you think you could stop staring? I mean it's flattering and all, but it's still kind of awkward. Not to mention, I really do have to get dressed."

_Wow I didn't even realize I had been staring. __The hell you didn't__,_ the wolf cackled. _She was definitely a good choice for our mate.__ Definitely, but staring is still rude. _"I'm sorry, Chloe. I didn't mean to stare like that. I, well, I guess I just couldn't help it. Sorry."

"It's fine Derek, but once again," she held up a pair of jeans.

"Oh, right. Okay, I'll just wait for you out here." With that said, he closed the door behind him and leaned against the wall of the hallway. _Wow. I mean really. I can't believe I just did that. Well, I can, but I can't. It makes sense, but still. I can normally control myself better than that, not to mention this has never happened before. __That's because you never had a mate before.__ That's true. So really, it's Chloe's fault I'm like this. Right? __Sure kid. Whatever you want to dream up in that little head of yours as an excuse as to why you were just ogling her.__ I wasn't ogling! __Right. And I'm a cat._

Derek, didn't get another chance to respond before Chloe opened the door and walked into the hallway, turning towards him. "So, what do you think?" She was wearing another one of the new outfits Izanami had picked up for her on their shopping trip earlier that week and spinning in a circle. Derek looked up and down her outfit, a pair of dark blue fitted jeans that hugged her hips, and a bright red long sleeve sweater, with no shoes. "You look great. But don't you think you forgot something?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Derek nodded his head towards her feet, "Shoes. If you don't put something on your feet you'll freeze. And there's no way I'm going to let you catch a cold just because you didn't want to put on a pair of shoes."

Chloe giggled in response. "Fine. Hold on." She ran back into her room and came out after only 17 seconds – Derek was counting. _How'd she move so fast?_

"Ready." Chloe said and began walking down the hall towards the staircase. Derek's eyes dropped to her feet as she walked just to make sure that she really was wearing something, and she was. Chloe had on her feet a large pair of plush lavender slippers.

"Are you satisfied?" She asked without even looking back. _Wait, how did she? Oh, who cares. _

"Not quite." At that she stopped walking and whirled around to face him.

"What was that?" Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and mimicked the stance which Derek had taken.

"I said, 'Not quite'." The look of shock on Chloe's face was evident.

"And what exactly about my wardrobe is not to your liking?" she said, lightly brushing her fingers down her sides, framing her figure. The wolf grinned cunningly as he whispered in Derek's mind. _How about the fact that it's still on._Derek blushed outwardly at the thought the wolf had created. _Shut up! Seriously, how many times to I have to tell you?! _

"Derek?" Chloe's voice was much softer now as she walked up to him. "You're blushing. You know I love it when you do that." She rested her hand on his chest and stared up at him.

"Who said it was your wardrobe I was not satisfied with?"

"Huh?" The return to their previous conversation surprised Chloe.

"It's not your outfit. Believe me, I love the outfit." Now it was Chloe's turn to blush. Derek placed his hand gently upon her cheek as he continued, "I'm unsatisfied with the fact that I have to hide you."

"What do you mean hide me?" Now Chloe was seriously confused.

"I mean the fact that we're sneaking around. That we can't show our affection in front of everyone. That when we go downstairs I'm going to have to try and avoid looking at you for fear of Simon or Andrew noticing. We need to tell them Chloe. Soon. I don't like lying to Simon, and hiding it from Andrew will only get us in trouble."

"I know," she voiced. Derek could tell by the tone that she was sad. "I just, don't know how to tell them. I mean, I love Simon and don't want to hurt him." At the immediate tensing of Derek's muscles she clarified, "No, not like I love you. I love him like a brother. But the thing is, he likes me, and I just don't see a way that we can say it without hurting him. As far as Andrew goes, I really don't care when we tell him as long as Simon is the first to find out."

"I've been thinking the same thing. The only thing I can hope is that Simon will be happy for us. I mean he should. A werewolf finding his mate is a pretty big deal. And I know he wants to see you happy as well. But how do we tell him? When do we tell him?"

She raised her hand to cover the one he had rested on his cheek. "Today. We tell him today, after breakfast. And we tell him together. We can deal with Andrew later." The hand on his chest clenched around his shirt as she pulled him closer. "But for now…"

She didn't need to finish as Derek understood immediately and kissed her. It was a sweet and chaste kiss, one that demonstrated all of their love and affection for each other, and it would have to last them until they told Simon.

The broke apart, somewhat reluctantly, as Derek brushed a hair behind her ear. "Well, we better get down there, before they get too suspicious."

She opened her eyes again, and nodded in response. As they dropped their hands and walked toward the stairs a comfortable silence fell between the two, each lost in their thoughts about the day to come.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs though Chloe's head popped up as she looked at him, "So, did you even figure out what Andrew wanted?"

Derek was happy at the change of topic, something to distract him for the time being, "Nope."

"I wonder what it is?"

"Who knows? Maybe we finally get to start planning our next move or something. I mean, sitting around here isn't doing us much good. We need to find my dad, plus rescuing Rae and your Aunt. There's a lot to do, and waiting in this safe house simply isn't going to get it done."

"Yeah. But I have to admit, it's been nice here, finally not having to run anymore. You're right though. We're not getting anything done, and we don't have the time to waste."

* * *

**Well I hope you enjoyed it, just as much as the last one. And thank you all for the encouraging reviews. **

**Per usual, if you find any spelling/grammatical errors just notify me either in a review or message and I'll go back and fix it. Speaking of which, do you think it would help to have a beta? I think it might. But I don't really know anyone who could be my beta, so if any of you would be interested…**

**R&R! Just press the lovely square button with the green words and you're practically there! **

**Thanks everyone for being an awesome audience!**


	6. A Little Research

**Wow, seven reviews already for the last chapter and I just posted it. You guys are completely awesome! **

**Question for the readers: Are there any more opinions out there on DPOV vs. third person? (And on that note, thank you Maximum Ride freak for letting me know what you thought! If no one else seems to think otherwise, then I'll probably end up revamping Caught before I post it to switch it over to third person.)**

**Important: In regards to the division of the rest of it, I have decided, as you can probably tell from the same day update, to divide it again. It should only take one more chapter after this before I finally get to Caught, the chapter I wrote back before I ever started Confusion.**

**More new characters. ^_^ I own them but anyone else is more than welcome to use them in their fanfics. In fact, I would be honored, just let me know in a message or something so I can go read it. I'd love to see how other people make use of them!**

**Derek:**_** italics**_

**Wolf: **_**underlined**_

**Disclaimer: Really? The rights to Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers series aren't for sale? But I could've sworn.**

* * *

A Little Research

The silence between them fell again as they entered the kitchen. Tori was already eating an egg white omelet, Simon's plate was almost empty, and Andrew and Jason were chatting back and forth over their meals. Derek filed in back to the seat across from his brother as Chloe took one next to Tori.

"It's about time sleeping beauty," Tori complained.

"Good morning to you too Tori," Chloe replied, not even caring about the remark.

"Morning Chloe." Simon smiled over the piece of toast he was eating.

"Morning."

"Chloe what type of eggs would you like and how many?"

"Umm…" She looked around the table noticing the piles of bacon, ham, and toast to eat as sides. "Just one please, and however you feel like making it is fine."

Soon after, Chloe was devouring her egg along with a helping of each of the various sides, while Derek was inhaling his six eggs and second helping of sides.

Once everyone had finished their meals, Andrew began to speak. "Okay, now I know some of you aren't exactly happy with the fact that I had you get up early," a loud huff was heard from Tori who had been complaining all through breakfast about that exact thing, "but I've got important news. Thanks to Izanami's impeccable record keeping system, we have been able to contact many of the supernaturals that have stayed in this house in the past. And most will be coming here to meet with us and discuss our cause. Some have already guaranteed their assistance in the matter, others wish to hear more about your story before making a decision. Now about the supernaturals themselves: some are ex-edison employees like myself, others are just regular supernaturals who wish to help. Either way, they will be arriving throughout the next week, starting today, which is why I needed you all up this morning. The first group is expected around 11:00, so make sure you're all prepared. Are there any questions?"

"How many will be arriving today?" Derek asked.

"Anywhere between four and thirteen. It's difficult to say."

"Will there be any other teenagers? Or experiments?" Simon inquired excitedly.

"To the first, most likely. As to the second, doubtful, considering that most of their locations are unknown at present."

"Will we have to share rooms again?" Tori chimed in.

"No. At least not at the beginning. It is possible though that if enough people come you and Chloe may have to go back to sharing rooms. Anything else?"

"Are there going to be any necromancers?" Chloe said in a small voice. Derek instantly picked up on her nervousness. _She's upset.__ Well duh, she's thinking about her powers. It would be good to have another necromancer around for her to ask questions too. Come to think of it, another werewolf wouldn't be bad either._

"Yes. At least one, possibly two. Sadly though, necromancers are somewhat of a dying breed." Chloe visibly cringed. "Sorry, poor choice of words. They're rare, and not many have come through this safe house and I don't know any personally, besides you of course. Anyway, the point is that there will be at least one necromancer coming, but she won't be coming until later."

"She?" The comment came from a now curious Chloe.

"Yes, she. The necromancer coming at this point is a woman. The other known necromancer is a man, however we haven't been able to contact him thus far, hence why we are unsure of whether there will be a second or not." Chloe nodded in response, as she attempted to absorb the information.

"Any other questions?" The room was silent. "Good, then you may all go about your business until they arrive. When they do, I expect you all to meet in the main living room." Nods were given by the four, as Andrew left the room.

"Well," Simon said, "that was unexpected. I don't know about you guys but I'm completely psyched about meeting everyone. I bet there are some sorcerers that can teach me some awesome spells."

"As if with your pathetic powers you could actually manage to do anything useful," Tori snapped.

"At least I can control my powers."

"Oh keep the insults coming. Maybe you'll see just how powerful I am when I lose control."

"Both of you stop arguing," Chloe commanded.

"Whatever. I'm going to use the computer. One of you come get me when they get here," Tori said as she put her plate in the sink and marched out of the room. Since Izanami and Jason had both left before Andrew had his announcement, apparently they both already knew, that left only Chloe, Derek, and Simon in the room.

_I guess now's as good a time as any. _Derek looked over to Chloe questioningly, earning himself a nod from her. _Okay, so how do we start this? __Just tell him. She's your mate and he's just going to have to deal with it, that's all there is to it.__ Yeah, but still. _

"Simon, there's something you need to know." Chloe's voice had broken through Derek's inner confusion.

"What is it?" Simon sounded concerned, not surprising considering both Derek's an Chloe's serious demeanors, and their current situation.

"How do I start?" Chloe said out loud to herself. Suddenly, Derek remembered his and Simon's exchange from the previous night and an idea occurred to him.

"You remember last night right?" Derek said, surprising Simon a little. "The way I acted when you came in?"

"You mean that stupid grin on your face? Yeah, you could say I remember it. Considering it had to be the strangest thing I have ever seen." Chloe giggled at the remark, and Derek looked in her direction effectively stopping the giggle.

"Anyway, as I was saying. What I…I mean _we_, need to tell you is why I was smiling. You see Simon, I know you like Chloe and everything."

"Woah. D. She's sitting right there. Isn't this the kind of conversation we need to have in private? No offense Chloe." Simon said, obviously angry with the fact that his brother was completely revealing his feeling in front of the girl he liked.

"Actually, Simon. I already knew about the way you felt, so there's no need to be embarrassed. And this conversation involves me too, that's why you're not having it in private," Chloe interrupted.

"What do you mean this conversation has to do with you too? What's going on?" Simon was getting agitated.

"You see, Simon, I was the reason Derek was smiling. Or at least, I'm assuming I was," she looked to Derek for confirmation and he grunted.

"I don't understand." Simon was getting angry now. His voice remained only slightly elevated and from the outside he appeared fairly calm, but Derek knew better. He could feel it, and smell it for that matter.

"What she's trying to tell you is that she doesn't want to hurt you but she doesn't return your feelings." Derek couldn't take this anymore, and he knew it would just be better to get it out there at once.

Simon sat in a shocked silence, as Chloe bowed her head to the table, equally quiet.

"Is it true?" Simon's voice was laced with pain.

"I'm sorry Simon. I love you, but not in the same way that you like me," Chloe was whispering now, and still refused to meet the eyes of anyone at the table.

"I understand. But it hurts. I'll get over it eventually though, I guess." There was an awkward pause before Simon continued, "I'm still confused though. What does this have to do with Derek? Why couldn't you just tell me yourself?"

"Because, that's not the only thing I need to tell you. The second is that I love Derek."

For the second time, Simon was reduced to a shocked silence.

"Simon," Derek was speaking gently trying to avoid upsetting his brother further, "I was smiling last night, because Chloe is my mate, and she accepted me."

"Your mate? What?" The anger had subsided some from Simon and now it was replaced with confusion.

"Yeah, you might remember dad telling me about it when he gave us 'the talk'. Even though he didn't know everything, he was able to tell me this much. Every werewolf has a mate. Like wolves a werewolf mates for life. A werewolf will only ever be attracted to his mate, no one else."

"Wow. That's intense. And you're sure Chloe is your mate?" He said the last through gritted teeth.

"Without a doubt." At Derek's statement Chloe finally lifted her head to smile at him.

"Fine. I'm going upstairs." There was bite to Simons voice as he stormed out of the room and up the stairs.

"Well that didn't go well." Chloe said.

"Yeah, but it didn't go horribly either. He'll get over it eventually. He'll have to." Derek reasoned.

"You're right about that." Chloe got up out of her seat and walked around the table to where Derek was sitting. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind.

Derek brought his hands up to her arms and craned his neck to face her. The wolf merely began doing a low sort of growl, nearly purring, at the close contact. "How about we go tell Andrew now. Might as well get it over with."

"Fine," she released her grip from his neck and stood up straight, stretching her arms behind her head, "let's go. Do you know where he is?"

"No, but I'll be able to find him." Derek stood up and grabbed Chloe's hand, pulling her behind him as he followed Andrew's scent. _The sooner we get this over with the better._

Eventually, they tracked the scent to its owner who was reading a book in one of the third floor libraries. They wandered in, to find a sitting area with old leather chairs in the far left corner.

Derek cleared his throat loudly to announce their presence. "Andrew," Chloe said, and he looked up from his book, "we want to talk to you."

"Okay then. Have a seat." They did as instructed, each sitting in a separate leather chair. "What exactly would you to like to talk about? Let me guess, the people coming?"

"No, actually we wanted to tell you something more than ask questions." Chloe clarified.

"Really?" Andrew sat back in his chair with an interested expression. After a few moments of silence, Andrew prompted them to continue, "Well, talk."

"Chloe is my mate." Derek blurted out, unable to censor his speech. _Damn. I didn't mean to be so blunt about it. Okay, how do I backpedal my way out of this one? _

Chloe quickly sent him a what-the-heck-was-that look, before turning her attention back to Andrew, who was in a shocked silence very similar to that of Simon's.

"You see," she began, "Derek loves me. But its not just a one way thing, I love him as well. We just wanted to let you know so you didn't randomly flip when you saw us together around the house."

They sat there for a few minutes, but Andrew still had yet to speak. He had closed his eyes and appeared to be concentrating very hard on something. "Umm…Andrew?" Derek questioned, wondering if maybe he had fallen asleep.

"Do you two even understand the weight of this situation? I mean, a teenage crush is one thing, but love is another. Derek do you even fully understand what finding your mate means? Chloe do you even know anything about being a werewolf's mate. My guess is that is a 'no' for the both of you. I highly suggest you take some time in the 'Other' library to figure this out." Andrew's tone was one of serious warning.

The wolf was growling inside Derek at Andrew's insinuation. _She is our mate, whether this idiot believes it or not. __I know that, but still, some more research wouldn't hurt. After all, Chloe and I really don't know all the details about this mate stuff. __Just don't lose her__. I won't. _Derek finally nodded his head toward Andrew, as if in understanding. "What exactly is the 'Other' library?"

Accepting Derek's nod, Andrew began to explain, "Well, there are four libraries on this floor. Each one hosts a different supernatural subject. Currently we are in the Spellcaster's Library, the one with the largest collection due to the prevalence of this type of supernatural. Primarily it focuses on Witches and Sorcerers, however there are also some other random spellcaster books for the rare occurrences when other types have been able to cast spells. The one directly across the hall is the Demon's Library. As you might expect it houses a collection regarding the various types of half and full demons as well as their powers. The next one down on this side of the hall is the Other Library. It houses all information dealing with lesser known, or less common topics, such as Necromancy, Shamanism, and Werewolves. The final one across the hall from the Other Library is the Historical Library. In it you will find references to supernatural existence, gatherings, battles, etc. throughout history. However, this library is not as large as you may expect due to the fact that it is not the primary historical library. The majority of documents are gathered in a different library in a supernatural headquarters based in Michigan."

Derek and Chloe both absorbed this information with vast interest, and almost immediately Derek was standing from his seat. "Well, let's go check it out then. Chloe…" He held his hand down to her, which she accepted and continued to hold as she stood up and began walking with him.

Once they were out the door, Chloe heaved a sigh. "So…"

"Yeah."

"I'm not really sure how that went."

"Neither am I. From what I can tell, Andrew definitely isn't accepting the fact that you're my mate. Apparently, he thinks it's just a crush or something. But at the same time, I got the feeling that there was something he wasn't telling us, something he was holding back."

"I know what you mean. I got that feeling too. But for now, onward with the search." As they entered the Other Library, they both separated, each heading a different direction in search of the topic of mates. The library, thankfully, was alphabetized, so he headed to "W" section in search of werewolves while she headed to the "M" for mates. Each grabbed what they found, and headed back to the corner of the library that mimicked the one they had left with Andrew. This one though, only had a leather sofa, with a reading lamp and small end table on each end. Together they sat down on the couch and went through the books.

In skimming them they realized that everything Derek's dad had told him was true, in addition to some other things. According to Werewolf Culture, "Werewolves find their mate anywhere between the ages of 12 and death. This means it is possible for a werewolf to identify his mate prior to making his first change." It later added that, "A werewolf may only have pups with his mate. Refer to the section on pups for more on this topic." Chloe blushed upon reading this while Derek made a mental note to refer to this again later. The only other piece of significant information they found was in a book entitled Mating With a Werewolf: "A werewolf's mate can fall in love with other men, but will never experience as strong of love as they would with their werewolf partner." Other than that there was just the other expected things such as the strong urge to protect each other from either perspective, which both Chloe and Derek had already experienced. Apparently they had been up there for a few hours because they were still reading when Andrew called them to come downstairs.

The new arrivals had come, and everyone was convening in the first floor living room. Tori, Simon, Jason, and Andrew were all already there, and Izanami was currently cataloguing each individual in her guestbook, updating contact information and whatnot. Chloe and Derek took a seat next to each other on the floor since all the couches seemed to be taken.

"Well, everyone, it is good to see all of you here," Andrew began. "Thank you so much for coming. To those of you I already know, it is nice to see you again, and to those of you I don't, it is good to have you on our side."

Chloe sighed quietly and Derek looked down at her, wondering what was wrong. In response she simply whispered, "This is going to be a cheesy speech." Derek almost laughed, but kept his composure and expressionless mask as he nodded in agreement.

Andrew continued speaking. "For now, let's just all introduce ourselves. I'm Andrew, an ex-Edison Group employee, the present guardian-figure for those four teenagers," he jutted his thumb to the group, "and a sorcerer."

From there it merely went in a clockwise circle. "Hi, as most of you already know. I'm Izanami, a human, and the caretaker of this Safe House. I expect anyone that hasn't already come and updated their information to do so immediately after the end of this meeting, and if you don't I will find you and you won't be happy when I do."

"Jason, shaman, Izanami's husband, I live on the third floor and that's where you'll be able to find me most of the time. Do not wake me up unless I have given you express permission or instructions to do so, or unless my wife has told you to."

One of the new arrivals was next, it was a woman in her mid-twenties with platinum blonde curly hair that came down to her shoulders, light blue jeans, a pair of heeled leather boots, and a black sweater. "Hello everyone. I'm Selene. I'm an Aqua half demon." Another woman, of similar height and with the same hair, pale-skin, and pale blue eyes as Selene followed. She wore a contrasting outfit though of dark red tennis shoes, black jeans, and a white sweater. "And I'm, Artemis, Selene's younger sister. Also an Aqua half demon."

From there the pattern continued with three sorcerers, two witches, an Ignito half demon, a human, a shaman, and an Agito half demon. Within the eleven there were three teenagers: Nicolae, 18 and a sorcerer, Aveline, 15 and a witch, and Reed, 16 and an Agito half demon.

The four already there were the last to introduce themselves. "Hi, I'm Tori. I'm a witch and a failed Edison experiment with supposedly uncontrollable powers. Try not to get on my bad side. Oh, and my mom is the mega-bitch that holds a lot of power in the Edison Group, and one of the people currently trying to kill us; I'm sure you'll be meeting her at some point. When you do, I suggest you take her out before she takes you out." The room was temporarily shoved into silence before Simon's cheerful voice grabbed everyone's attention, though Derek could tell the good mood was just a façade in an effort to make the situation less awkward. "Hi, I'm Simon Bae. My dad is Kit Bae and he is currently missing, and also an ex-Edison Group employee. I'm a sorcerer." "Derek. Failed experiment. Simon's brother. Werewolf." A few gasps were heard throughout the room and Derek cringed. Chloe grabbed his hand in tightly in hers and rested them on her lap before continuing with her own introduction. "Hi, I'm Chloe Saunders. According to the news, I'm technically missing or kidnapped right now, but don't freak out and report it because obviously I'm not. It's a complicated situation which you'll understand later after we go over everything that's happened. I'm also a failed experiment with supposedly uncontrollable powers. I'm a necromancer, and I'm Derek's mate."

Even more gasps were heard around the room as Derek tensed with surprise. _Did she just say what I think she said? To all of these people? __Yeah. She just told everyone she's your mate. That's right. She's proud to be your mate. Now do something to show everyone she's yours._ Derek turned towards her slightly bringing up the hand which was holding his and kissing it tenderly.

"What the hell?" Tori shouted shocked.

"Derek," Izanami sighed, "Please tell me this is not how you two planned on breaking it to them."

"No, we already told Simon and Andrew, earlier. Though I can honestly say that I most definitely wasn't expecting everyone else to find out like this."

Everyone in the room was quiet as they listened to the exchange, and upon hearing Derek's response all faces turned to Chloe. "What? I just thought it would be easier to tell everyone at once rather than to go to them all individually. Sorry, Tori. We didn't get a chance to tell you before. We were kind of distracted in the Library."

"Ew. I so don't want to know about that." Tori stated as she fake gagged.

"Tori. No it wasn't like that. We were doing research on supernaturals," Chloe defended.

"Sure," Reed the Agito half demon chimed in. "You were doing 'research'. That's what they all say."

At that, nearly everyone in the room laughed. With the exception of Derek who was still shocked at the fact that Chloe had just announced their relationship to eleven new strangers, and Chloe who was blushing profusely.

"Well I think we can call this meeting to a close for now," Andrew said after most of the laughing subsided. "Everyone can go choose their bedrooms now, teens are on the second floor adults on the third and fourth. It is not required that you share rooms at present, though it may become required eventually once more people arrive. We will have a meeting to discuss the Edison Group dilemma at the end of the week after all of the guests have arrived."

After that, everyone went their separate ways, all of the new people laying claim to various rooms and some of the teenagers exploring the house, Chloe and Derek heading back to the library, Simon going to his room to work on the comic, and Tori spending her time doing who-knows-what on the computer.

In the library, Derek sat on the couch continuing the book called Werewolf Culture, and secretly waiting for Chloe to be distracted enough for him to get a closer look on the section on Pups. Sadly though, he kept being distracted by the incident which had occurred earlier, and which he still couldn't quite figure out. Chloe laid on the other part of the couch, her head resting on the armrest and her feet in Derek's lap. Suddenly, Derek grunted and put his book down, causing Chloe to raise her head questioningly in response. "What's wrong?"

"I still can't figure it out."

"Can't figure what out?"

"Why you did it?"

"Really Derek? I'm not a mind-reader. Out with it. What did I do?"

"Back then, downstairs. When you just told everybody about our relationship. I mean, I know you said it would be easier to tell everyone that way. But I know that's not really why you did it." Derek angled his body towards her as he repositioned her legs.

"I didn't think about it too much really. I just heard the gasps and felt you tense at their reaction to you saying you were a werewolf. From there I thought like a Director: what shocks an audience more than finding out the main character is a werewolf? That would be finding out that his mate is sitting right next to him, is half his size, and raises corpses."

Derek was shocked. "Well I suppose that's true, but I still have a hard time believing you did it." He shook his head to accent his disbelief.

"Why is it so hard to believe?" Chloe shut her book and swung her legs underneath her, once again kneeling in front of him. The scene of her pouncing on him in his bed flashed through his head and Derek grew somewhat hopeful. "Is it so wrong that I wanted to take some of the focus off you that was making you so uncomfortable. To try and make you a little more comfortable and relaxed? Really Derek? Because to me it's simply instinct. And last time I checked following your instincts was good for a werewolf was it not? Doesn't it say in that book of yours that you know your mate by instinct? And last time I checked I was still a good thing. Well Derek?" During her rant Chloe had inched her way towards him so that they were now barely separate, but Derek was still staring at her with his mouth open in shock.

_I'm not even sure what to make of that. __That makes two of us. But one thing's for sure, instinct is good and our mate is good.__ Agreed. _"Of course you're a good thing Chloe. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Very well then. Let me help you out once in a while, believe it or not, I enjoy doing it." She chuckled slightly before leaning in and kissing him. Derek began moving his lips against hers immediately, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her body closer to his. Apparently the sideways position they were in wasn't comfortable for Chloe though, as she gripped Derek's shoulders with her small hands and swung her leg over to straddle his lap. Derek and the wolf were both quite pleased with this turn of events, causing Derek to let out a slight growl. Chloe smiled against his lips, and darted out her tongue to brush against them. Instantly, Derek opened and Chloe began her exploration.

The make-out session continued for quite some time until a tall redhead, wearing a black Queen t-shirt and jeans, interrupted them. The teen cleared his throat loudly, not phasing either Chloe or Derek as neither had heard it. "Excuse me," Reed, the 16 year old Agito, said louder finally managing to make the two look up from their place on the couch. Chloe blushed crimson at the intruder and attempted to get off of Derek's lap, but Derek's hands on her hips held her firmly in place.

"What do you want?" Derek growled under his breath. The wolf wasn't happy at being interrupted and neither was Derek.

"I was told to come get you for dinner since you two missed lunch. So…" Reed ran his hands casually along the nearest shelf of books, "Research? Huh?"

Chloe's blush deepened and Derek's grip on her tightened. "It's none of your business," Derek bit out between clenched teeth, "Thanks for getting us. We'll be down soon."

"If you say so," Reed laughed as he made his way out of the library and back down to the kitchen.

"Derek," Chloe said as soon as she saw Reed leave the room.

"Hm?," he still hadn't taken his eyes off of the door and wouldn't until Reed was on his way down the steps.

"You can relax now. It's fine."

"Hm?" Derek wasn't really listening, but just before Chloe spoke again Reed's feet hit the staircase, and Derek finally tuned in.

"I said you can relax now. Everything's fine now I'm not going anywhere."

"Huh?" Derek was confused, so Chloe gestured her head down to the hands that were clenching her hips.

"Oh. Sorry," he said releasing his tight grip on her though not actually moving his hands away.

"It's okay." She leaned towards him and gave him a quick kiss on the nose, before pulling back and saying, "well, I guess we better get down there. If we take too long they'll send someone looking for us again."

Derek merely grunted his response, and they headed down for dinner.

* * *

**Per the usual, R&R. **

**If you would be so kind to notify me of any mistakes, I'll be thankful. **

**What do you think of how breaking the news to Simon went? Personally, it was a difficult part for me to write. I mean, I don't think Simon would go all "NO!!!! Drama Drama, I'm so angry! I hate you Derek! I can't believe you'd do this Chloe!" but at the same time, I can't just see him rolling over and being all "Okay, good for you two. I'm glad you're happy together." Either. Anyway, let me know what you thought about it and anything else you found particularly interesting…or if you have any questions.**

**Again, Beta anyone?**


	7. Another Friend, Another Mystery

**Important: Though "Caught" will be the next chapter I post, I will not be posting it immediately. It so happens, that I didn't get to cover everything I wanted in this chapter (and couldn't without making it ridiculously long) so I'll be adding it to the beginning of Caught, before I publish it.**

**Just a quick lyric for you****:** **"Right now you are down and out, and feeling really crappy. And when I see how sad you are, it sort of makes me happy!"**

**Do you know what it's from? If you do post it in a review and YOU'RE AWESOME! **

**Derek:**_** italics**_

**Wolf: **_**underlined**_

**Disclaimer: Really? The rights to Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers series aren't for sale? But I could've sworn.**

* * *

Another Friend, Another Mystery

About halfway through the meal was the first time Chloe noticed it. It was small, but she was positive she had seen a muscle in Derek's forearm twitch. She waited, carefully watching out of the corner of her eye; sure enough, it twitched again, and Derek brought his hand up to scratch it. Chloe turned her head to get a better look at the werewolf sitting next to her, he was sweating slightly and there was an ever so slight shimmer to his eyes. She squeezed his hand to get his attention.

Derek looked at her, understanding the question that was clearly evident in her sapphire orbs, and nodded his head in confirmation. He was feverish and his muscles were beginning to twitch. It felt as if little unpleasant sparks of electricity were making their way up and down the smaller tendons and ligaments, making him scratch in an attempt to counter the sensation. He was going to be changing soon. _Most likely tonight, if my past changes are any indication. God I don't want to go through that pain again. I don't even know if I can change completely, not after the way the Edison Group screwed with my DNA. __Oh, you'll change kid. You don't have to worry about that.__ What are you talking about? How do you know? __Because I'm tired of being locked up in this stupid cage, and I'm going to get free. No DNA changes that stupid group made are powerful enough to stop that.__ Wh-wha…? _Derek was in a bit of shock, and he was scared. Sure he talked to his inner wolf quite often, argued with it, on rare occasions agreed with it, sometimes even talked out problems with it, but the idea of the wolf 'getting free' was frightening. On top of that, he had already gone through two partial changes during their stay at the Safe House, both times with Chloe by his side refusing to leave him, but the wolf had never sounded so determined before. He didn't know what would happen, whether he would still be in control or not. The wolf was always more passionate and short tempered than the logical side of Derek; his moods came fast and strong, and the possibility of him being in control was simply dangerous.

At the dinner table, he had visibly tensed and stopped eating, naturally worrying Chloe who was staring up at him with concern. Glancing over at her, the thought hit him. _Chloe? If you get control than what about Chloe? She's our mate. You can't hurt her. That would only hurt us too. __Shut up kid.__ What? __Just stop.__ But that doesn't answer my question! _The wolf refused to respond as Derek continued to scream in his head.

Derek's eyes were looking slightly frantic now as he searched for an answer from the silent wolf. _Of course. Now of all times, he finally chooses to shut it. What the heck is wrong with him? Wrong with me? What if we hurt Chloe? No. We won't hurt Chloe. We can't. I just won't lose control. I'll keep him locked up in that little prison of his in my mind and that's all there is to it._ With his determination in place, he finally responded to Chloe's worried expression with a smile, trying to tell her that he was fine without actually attracting the attention of the entire table. Chloe smiled in return, though it seemed more hesitant and not entirely convinced, before returning to her meal.

After dinner, the newly arrived Aqua half demon sisters, Artemis and Selene, volunteered to do dishes. They seemed abnormally cheery when volunteering though, prompting Chloe's curiosity. "What are you two so happy about?" she asked, with earnest interest.

"Doing dishes," Selene responded.

"Huh?" There were shocked expressions on almost every teenage face throughout the room with the exception of Reed, with the actual verbal response coming from Simon. "Why on earth would you actually like doing dishes?" he continued.

Reed laughed and was the first to respond, "Because they're half demons."

"What does being a half demon half to do with dishes?" Tori said, with a slightly upset tone at the fact that Reed had laughed at her. Well, technically, he was laughing at everyone's shock, but that didn't matter.

As Selene cleared the table of everyone's plates and utensils and the adults all filed out of the room already knowing the answer, Artemis took time to explain. "It's simple. There are several types of half demons…Aqua, Agito, Ignito, Umbra, Terra, Spiro, etc. Each particular type of half demon is related to a specific ability. For example, Aqua demons such as Selene and myself, have a natural power over water. We can pull it from the air and plants when there is none around us, control large quantities of it, etc. Ignitos can control and create fire. Agitos, like Reed, can,"

"control and move objects with their mind," Chloe interrupted. Derek and the others turned to her with a bit of a surprised look, causing her to blush at their stares.

"That's correct Chloe," Reed said, "but how did you know that?" He was honestly curious as to how she already knew about the abilities of an Agito, given he was the first one to arrive in the house.

"That's what Liz is." Derek nodded in immediate understanding. Simon released an "Oh," while Tori merely lowered her head. She still hadn't quite gotten over the loss of her friend, even when she was still hanging around, and it was hard to know that Chloe got to communicate with her all the time while Tori couldn't without Chloe's help.

"Who's Liz?" Reed asked, wondering if maybe there was going to be another Agito arriving at the house whom he could meet.

The four Lyle House teens at the table grew quiet, until Tori broke the silence speaking quietly and very near crying, "Liz was at Lyle House with us. She was an Edison Group experiment as well. She didn't know what she was, and couldn't control her powers. When she got angry in class, pencils would fly at the teacher, even if she didn't want them too. One night when she was with Chloe, she really lost control. I don't know exactly what happened, but they took her away that night, and none of us ever talked to her or heard from her after that. They wouldn't let us contact her, and just kept telling us that we might be able to in a week or so when she was better. They killed her. She was my best friend." Chloe walked over to Tori, standing behind her chair and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Liz's ghost didn't pass on, or go to the great beyond, or whatever spirits or supposed to do. She came back to Lyle house, and I made contact with her. She helped in our escape, and in Tori and mine's later escape from the Edison Group headquarters. Because she's an Agito Half Demon she can move things, even as a ghost." Chloe got quiet and closed her eyes in concentration for a minute trying to summon Liz. Not all summonings were easy of course, but for Chloe summoning Liz had nearly become second nature, she had done it so many times. It didn't work on her lowest power setting, meaning Liz was probably slightly out of range, so she amped it up a notch. "Liz?" she said into the air with her eyes still closed.

Aveline, the 15 year old witch, was about to speak. "Shhh," was all that came from Derek. He knew Chloe was summoning Liz and needed to concentrate. The slight noise from Derek was all it took to effectively make sure no one at the table made a sound until Chloe was finished.

Liz popped in on the opposite side of the kitchen from Chloe. "Hey Chloe? What's up? Whoa?! What's with all the new people?! I leave for a few days and now I have no idea what's going on! Seriously?" Chloe opened her eyes with a smile, looking over to her friend still in her pajamas.

"Hey Liz. We were just talking about you, and I figured since everyone else got their introduction in earlier you should probably meet everyone." To everyone in the room, it appeared Chloe was talking to air, but given they were all supernaturals, they knew better.

"Hi Liz!" Tori shouted excitedly.

"Chloe. Tell her I said hey, and that we need to talk later. I have a ton of new gossip to dish to her." Liz said happily, before walking over to the table and standing by Chloe to observe everyone at the table. "Hm…so who do we have here?" Liz asked rocking back and forth on her feet.

"Tori, Liz says 'hey' and that she wants to talk to you later about gossip of some kind." At this point Chloe directed her attention to the semi-stunned, semi-confused faces of the newer supernaturals in the room. "As to everyone else, I'd like you to meet Liz. Due to the fact that you can't see or hear her, no offense Liz, I will be communicating for her."

"Did you really summon her? How do we know she's really there and you aren't just trying to pull a prank on us?" the doubtful Aveline questioned?

"Liz," Chloe said with a smirk, "care to give them a demonstration?"

"It would be my pleasure," said Liz with a wink. The longer time she spent as a ghost the better Liz had gotten at effectively using her powers. Using her supernatural Agito ability, she levitated the witches chair in the air two feet off the ground, with her still in it. As the chair rose, Aveline instantly gripped the sides of her seat, afraid of falling.

"Satisfied?" Chloe asked.

Aveline's eyes immediately darted to her as she said in a timid voice, "Yes. Will you please put me down now Liz?" Liz did as she asked, laughing at the girls mildly freaked reaction.

"So, introductions…" Simon reminded after the girl was lowered to the floor again.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot." Chloe said with a smile. "Well, Liz is there anything you want them to know?"

"Umm…well, you already told them I was an Agito I'm assuming. Not to mention the whole ghost thing. Did you tell them about me being an experiment like you and Tori?"

"Yes. And about Lyle House."

"Oh," Liz looked a little sad at the mention of Lyle house, but her face brightened again quickly, "well, that's really all I can think of for now."

"Okay, well it seems we have already told you everything about Liz that a basic introduction would entail, so how about you each introduce yourselves to her."

"And how about we start with the cute brunette…" Liz commented suggestively. She was referring to Nicolae, the 18-year-old sorcerer with pale skin, defined jaw line and cheekbones, a shock of brown hair, brown eyes, dark baggy jeans, and a solid light tan t-shirt. He was just a couple inches shorter than Derek, and definitely toned. Chloe could see why Liz thought he was attractive and decided to roll with it.

"Well, apparently Nicolae, she wants us to start with you." Liz let out a gasp, not expecting Chloe to actually speak out about what she said.

"Chloe, you weren't supposed to actually…" but she didn't get to finish before Nicolae started talking. He couldn't hear her after all, so it didn't seem to him that he was interrupting anything.

"Okay. Well, hi Liz. I'm Nicolae. I'm 18 and a sorcerer. Some of my likes include music, relaxing, and coming up with new spells. Some of my dislikes include getting grounded for accidentally blowing things up, the Edison Group, and Reed when he's in a mood."

"Hey!" Reed shouted from two seats down. Everyone else at the table simply laughed.

"What? You know it's true," Nicolae said calmly reverting back to his slouched position he had previously in the chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, on with the next one." Chloe gestured to Reed to continue with his introduction as opposed to the rant she could tell he wanted to start.

"Hi. The names Reed, 16. I'm an Agito half demon too," for effect he levitated one of the spoons from his dinner plate, "Maybe we can hang some time. Of course, we're going to have to find a way beyond that whole communication barrier thing." He sent a wink in Liz's general direction, which he had assumed based on where Chloe looked while talking to her, causing Liz to giggle slightly.

"He's kind of cute too," Liz said causing Chloe to roll her eyes. "Tell him that I'd love to hang out and I'll work on trying to find a way to be able to communicate without using you as a mediator."

"Okay," Chloe nodded toward Liz and turned back to Reed. "Liz says that she'd like to hang out and she'll work on the communication thing."

Reed smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Oh and I guess I should do the whole likes and dislikes thing too. My likes include girls, sports, levitating things when people don't expect it to freak them out, sarcasm, and Rock music. My dislikes include people who insist they're better than other people, adults who don't let us use our powers at our own discretion, carrots, and boring people who can't take a joke." He nodded to Selene, who had by this time finished the dishes and taken a seat at the table, signaling that he was done and that she should go next.

"Hello, Liz. My name's Selene, and I'm 22. I'm an Aqua half-demon with powers over water. My likes include spending time with my sister, doing the dishes, reading, listening to my iPod, and being in water. I dislike Reed's pranks and days when the temperature is above 80°."

Reed made a huffing noise, but Artemis continued before he could say anything. "My name's Artemis. As you probably guessed, I'm Selene's sister and also an Aqua half-demon. I just turned 20 last month. My likes include chilling, art – particularly painting, classical music, and being outside at night. There's not really anything in particular that I strongly dislike, however, just as anyone else does, I have a few pet peeves not worth mentioning." She smiled kindly in Liz's direction before directing her attention to Chloe.

"And last but not least…" Chloe said gesturing towards Aveline who was sitting between Reed and Nicolae. "Hello again, Liz. First, I'd like to say sorry for doubting your presence. Second, my name is Aveline. I'm 15 and a witch. My likes include playing the piano and discovering new spells. My dislikes include jerks that only care about themselves, sorcerers who assume they're more powerful than witches based on no evidence of actual skill, and newly being levitated." At the last dislike, many in the room couldn't help but laugh, including Liz.

"Okay, well if that's everyone, I think we are done here. Unless anyone has anything else to say?" Everyone looked at each other around the table waiting to see if anyone had something important to say, but after about a minute it became quite obvious that no one did. Chloe turned to Liz, who was tapping her chin in thought. After a few seconds, she stopped tapping and seeming to have one of those light bulb moments she turned to Chloe and said, "You should probably tell them that I won't be here all the time because I'm watching over my family, and that if they need me they'll probably need you to summon me."

Chloe nodded in understanding, and smiled at Liz's ability to think ahead. Turning to the table, she relayed the same information with nods coming from all of the newcomers. Shortly after, everyone dispersed off to do their own things leaving Chloe, Derek, Tori, and Liz in the kitchen.

Chloe noticing the sweat forming on Derek's head, turned to Tori and Liz. "Why don't you two head upstairs? I'll meet you up there in a few minutes so Liz can dish whatever gossip it is that she wanted to tell you about."

"Whatever. I'd rather not have to watch you and dog boy make out anyway." With that said, Tori got up from her seat and headed up to her room, leaving a scowling Derek, a slack jawed Liz, and Chloe in the kitchen.

"What!?!" Chloe had to cover her ears from the volume of Liz's scream. "You and Derek? Are together?! I mean, it's about time, and I'm happy for you and everything, but seriously. I missed everything! How long? How'd it happen?"

Chloe rubbed her forehead in frustration having forgotten that Liz didn't know. "I guess I didn't tell everyone at once after all," she mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

Derek put his hand on Chloe's shoulder in an effort to comfort her, while Liz continued on with her bombardment of questions. "Who confessed first? Him or you? Have you guys kissed yet? How was it?"

"Liz. Liz!" Chloe stopped the rant and eventually gained Liz's attention. "I'll tell you everything, I promise, but right now we need some privacy okay."

"Fine, but you better tell me everything," Liz said before fading out.

Chloe sighed before relaxing her muscles and leaning with her back against Derek.

Derek wrapped his arms around her and took a deep breath before finally speaking. "So, I take it that you forgot to tell her about us."

Chloe nodded, "Yep. And now she wants to know every detail, and was asking me a dozen questions, and God only knows how many more once I actually get upstairs." She paused for a second before turning around so that she was facing Derek and looking up into his eyes before continuing, "Then again. It's not exactly a story that I dread telling." A smirk formed on her lips. "In fact, quite the opposite, I happen to enjoy it. Especially when I get to answer that last question of hers."

_Huh, what question? Am I supposed to know what she's talking about here, because it's if I could actually hear what Liz asked her? _"What do you mean? What question?"

Chloe blushed briefly before running her hand up his arm and stopping it to play with the sleeve of his shirt, "W-well…"

_What the hell? _"Wait. Chloe, what's going on? You blushed and now you're stuttering, and your heart rate has increased. What was the question?"

"Y-y-you see, Liz k-kind of asked me how it was." She blushed and turned her head away.

Not having any of that, he gently grabbed her chin and brought her face to look at him again, "How what was?"

She smiled. "How kissing you was."

_What?_ Outwardly, Derek was shocked to silence, while inwardly he was trying to sort through his feeling to find the appropriate reaction. _What? Um…WHAT!? What business of Liz's is it how good at kissing I am? Wait…how am I? I don't even know? Oh crap, what if I'm a bad at it? I mean really, kissing Chloe is phenomenal, so what if I can't compare? __Why don't you just ask her._ _Ask her?! What do you mean "ask her"!? I can't just simply ask her. What if she says I'm bad at it? __Okay, now I'm only going to say this once, so listen well. First, I highly doubt that your mate would think you are a bad kisser. Being in your mate's company in that sense is an intoxicating experience for both parties, as you well know and have read. Second, so what if she says you're 'bad' at it? That just means we'll have to practice and work more at it. And do I need to remind you how enjoyable that practice would be?_For extra effect, the wolf shot Derek some images of Chloe straddling his lap on the couch of the library. _Mmmmm…No. Definitely no need to remind me. I get it._

Seeing his face finally clear, Chloe said, "Are you finished now?"

Derek was confused to say the least. _How did she know that I was having a conversation with the wolf?_ "What do you mean, 'finished'?"

"Simple. You looked like you were trying to figure something out in your head. So, have you figured it out yet?"

"Umm…yeah. But this may be kind of awkward…"

"Derek, its fine. Just let me know what you were thinking."

"Well, it was kind of about that whole, Liz asking how kissing me was. That got me thinking. First, I thought that it wasn't any of her business, but then I realized that I really have no idea what kind of kisser I am. I don't know if I'm bad or good at it, and…well…I was kind of wondering…" Derek trailed off after that leaving it open for Chloe.

When he asked that question, something in Chloe's mind snapped. She couldn't believe he was doubting himself, doubting them, again. It was the last straw, and she was going to put an end to it, permanently. "Are you kidding Derek? Do you seriously think there is any chance that I would think kissing you was an unpleasant experience?!"

Derek, looked sheepishly at the ground.

"Okay, that's it. Sit down." He looked questioningly at her, cocking his head to the side, at the new commanding tone her voice was taking. "No. No more confused looks or questions. Sit down. Now." Derek, not wanting to take a chance at upsetting her further, sat down in the kitchen chair she had pointed to and stared at the table.

"Look at me," Derek turned his head to the side in order to look at the now smiling Chloe that was looming over him. _Okay. One minute she's practically scolding me, and the next she's smiling. But she's not. That smile is different. I can't explain it…she's not smiling because she happy. It's almost…aghh…I can't put my finger on it…__May I?__ You know? __I believe the word you're looking for is predatory.__ Predatory? Hmm…I see it. She's like a wolf that just cornered a rabbit and is about to pounce. Wait…if she's the wolf, wouldn't that make me the rabbit? __Very good. You put 2 and 2 together to get…__ Chloe acting strangely, me confused and kind of excited at the same time… __Not quite, but you'll figure it out soon enough._

Chloe bent down so that she was eye level with him, her face only a few inches from his, "Now I'm going to explain this to you clearly. That way, you will never feel the need to ask me that again. Understand?" Derek nodded his head in confirmation as Chloe proceeded to walk behind him. "Now face forward and close your eyes."

It wasn't so much the 'face forward' command that got him as the 'close your eyes' bit, so instinctively he craned his neck back to face her and cocked an eyebrow. "Derek." The seriousness on her face as she said his name, left no room for questions however, as he did as she previously instructed.

"Now, the following directions may sound strange. But I need you to follow them, exactly. And trust me, you won't regret it." Even though this only served to increase Derek's confusion, he nodded his head.

"Good." Chloe placed her hands on his shoulders and bent down to whisper in his ear. "Now Derek, in order to give you the clearest picture possible as to how I feel, I want you to imagine kissing me." She felt his shoulders, tense beneath her fingers. "It's okay Derek. Don't worry, I take full responsibility for the inevitable outcome of what I'm about to do. Trust me. Just follow my directions and picture it."

_I don't know if this is a good idea, maybe I should just pretend to be imagining it, and hope she doesn't notice. __Not an option._Whether Derek wanted to or not, the wolf wanted to follow Chloe's orders and began bombarding Derek with flashbacks of him and Chloe. Everything from her pouncing on him in his bed, to their most recent library make-out was being shown on repeat. With all of the images of his mate, Derek's senses began to heighten in order to try and feel her actual presence. He could feel her small hands resting on his shoulders, and he could feel her breath tickling his neck. Even with his fever, it caused him to shiver and have goosebumps rise in response. Seeing this, Chloe smiled in satisfaction.

Chloe's soft whisper, however, only served to heighten the effects. "Now I'm going to explain thoroughly what I'm feeling. Every time your finger tips brush over my arms, my cheeks, my neck, my hips and back it's like fire. Every time our skin makes contact it's like I'm being burnt, only in a way that's pleasurable. It makes me want to lean in to that touch, to get every inch of contact I possibly can. Now I may not have the experience of some other girls, but I don't need experience to understand the bliss I experience every time you kiss me. It's like having cold water being poured on that fire, only to have it relit with each movement of your tongue, sending little shocks through my skin, heightening my sense of touch, and making everything that much more intense, so much that I don't want it to end. Do you understand now Derek? Do you understand what it's like for me to kiss _my mate_. It's the most intense and pleasurable experience imaginable."

With each description Chloe gave, Derek imagined himself doing the same. It was as if she was calling out to him, and with every call, his body wanted contact more and more, but while she was talking, all he got was her breath on his neck and her hands on his shoulders. As if the bombardment on his senses and mind though wasn't bad enough, the way she said "my mate" sent him reeling. Derek wanted more, needed more. Apparently, Chloe could tell, because only a few second after she finished speaking, her lips hit his neck as she began peppering kisses up and down it. Instinctively Derek leaned his head to allow her better access, and in response Chloe began grazing her teeth along his neck, as he did to her, until coming back to his jaw and gently biting it, causing Derek to low growl.

Satisfied with his response, Chloe kissed his jaw once more before standing up and waking around to the side of the chair, leaning back against the table with a smile.

Derek noticing the loss of contact listened to her footsteps come around next to him. When he realized after a few seconds that she wasn't going to continue what she had started, he opened his eyes to stare up at her, revealing a pair of somewhat foggy and glazed over orbs.

"I'm glad to see you understand." She leaned down and kissed him once on the forehead, before straightening again. "You know I love you, but you really do have to have more faith in yourself, and in us."

Though he could hear and understand everything she was saying, the fog was still clearing from his mind, leaving him with one burning question.

"Chloe?"

"Yes?"

"What was that?...How did you...what did you…where did you learn to do that?"

Chloe let out a giggle, before plopping herself down sideways in his lap. "Silly, Derek. You're not the only one who was reading about mates in the library you know."

"What?"

"Let's just say you're not the only one who found something interesting to look at in one of those books." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips before hopping up and out of his lap. "Now, as sad as this is, if I'm not upstairs in the next few minutes, Tori and Liz are going to have a cow and come looking for me, and I would really prefer not to explain to them why you are in your current state, if you get my meaning."

"Huh?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. Anyway, there's one more important question that I need to ask before I go." Her expression and tone shifted to serious again as she began, "How soon do you think you'll be changing?"

"What?" With the previous experience still on his mind, Derek had all but forgotten about his upcoming change, and it took him a minute to adjust to the new topic.

Chloe continued, "I know it's soon, but are we thinking tonight, tomorrow, what? Judging by how your muscles were twitching before, my guess is soon. How do you feel?"

"Well, if my prior partial changes are anything to go by, than my symptoms are developing progressively closer to the time I'm going to actually change. So my guess would be tonight or early in the morning. As far as how I feel…well to be honest, with that little mind trip you just did on me I had almost completely forgotten about it. Though I do feel hot."

Chloe smiled at the fact that she could make him forget about his discomfort and placed the back of her hand on his head. "Well, you're definitely feverish. My recommendation, would be just to sit and rest for a while or maybe stick your head in the freezer. I've seen women with hot flashes do that on movies before."

Derek chuckled and Chloe laughed at her own joke, "Did you just compare me to a woman going through menopause?"

"Maybe. I mean, think about it, both unstoppable bodily changes, both make you hot and irritable."

They both laughed again, before being interrupted by Tori yelling from the top of the stairs, "Chloe!!! Get up here. You can make out with dog boy later, right now, Liz and I are waiting with zero communication possibilities. If you're not up here in two minutes then Liz is coming down there to get you!"

Chloe simply shrugged, and gave Derek an "I told you so" look before heading towards the door.

"Chloe."

She turned her head back in response, "Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too." She granted him one last smile before heading out the kitchen door and back up the stairs to Tori's room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 hour and 23 minutes later…~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe had dished nearly every available piece of information about her and Derek to Liz, and consequently by presence, Tori, not that she minded. She liked talking about her and Derek as a couple, and during the first three weeks of being in the safe house Tori had, for the most part, chilled out. Granted she still called Derek, dog boy or wolf boy, but Chloe just considered that Tori's own way of showing her acceptance of him.

After that though she had to spend another 52 minutes communicating for Liz, who was relaying the latest gossip about some actors or musicians, that Chloe could frankly care less about. Now that they were finally, _Thank God_!, finished, it was time to come up with a plan.

Chloe was sitting on Tori's bed along with Tori, while Liz had been sitting on the floor. Chloe heaved a sigh, before looking at the both of them and beginning, "Okay, as much as I enjoyed that hour and a half of talking to and for both of you, Reed's right. We need to find a way for Liz to communicate without my assistance. Not that I don't enjoy hanging out with you guys, but it's not guaranteed that I'm going to be around every time Liz wants to talk. Not to mention I'd imagine you'd enjoy being able to have a private conversation once in a while, am I right?", she finished looking directly at Liz.

Liz merely nodded in response. "Okay then, down to business. How can Liz communicate without me?"

"Well, you're the movie expert Chloe. What do the ghosts do in movies to communicate with the people they're haunting?"

Chloe thought for a minute, before nodding and smiling enthusiastically. "That's a great idea Tori! I'm surprised we haven't thought of it before. Typically, there are two types of ghosts in movies. There's the kind that can and can't talk. The kind that can usually go with creepy moans and are all 'Leave this place' or whatever, but that really doesn't apply considering Liz's lack of voice is basically our current problem. However, the other type might just work. This type is usually seen in horror movies doing things like writing freaky messages in the steam on mirrors after the heroine gets out of the shower and whatnot. That's exactly what we can do for Liz!"

Liz looked confused, and Tori chimed in sarcastically, "So we're going to make her have all of her conversations in a steamy bathroom?"

"Please, no. Not to be troublesome or anything, but I'd really prefer not," Liz pleaded.

Chloe merely laughed at the two before explaining. "No, she doesn't need to have her conversations in the bathroom. Rather by making use of Liz's Agito powers, we can make use of the same principle. Liz, do you think you'll have any problems moving a pen or marker accurately enough to right something? I'd imagine it would be a bit more difficult than just levitating something, but then again I'm not an Agito."

Liz thought for a minute before directing her attention to Chloe once again, "I really don't know. I've never tried moving anything in that small of motions before. Usually I just use my powers to levitate things." She paused before adding tauntingly, "and throwing boxes on top of people in

"Ha ha, poke fun at the damsel in distress who doesn't have a supernatural power that can actually be used to defend herself."

Tori who was obviously confused asked, "Wait. What? I'm so confused right now. How did we go from Liz's communication problems to you being a damsel in distress?"

Chloe quickly explained resulting in Tori nodding in agreement with Liz before bursting out in laughter. Deciding to ignore it, Chloe got up and left the room giving Tori a chance to calm down, before she called from her room, "Oh, come on Chloe. We're sorry, we didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but you have to admit it's funny." There was no response and Tori began to worry that Chloe was actually mad at them, "Chlo--" she didn't get a chance to finish before Chloe reappeared in the doorway, holding a pen and a notebook.

"Don't worry, I'm not mad. I just thought I'd go get what we needed while you finished laughing," she said smile still in place.

She took a seat on the floor next to Liz and placed the paper in front of her friend, before motioning for Tori to take a seat next to them.

Tori got off the bed and knelt on the floor at the spot Chloe had motioned, hoping that she wasn't partially sitting on Liz or anything, but given as there was no cold sensation like the one that usually came whenever she happened to touch Liz, she assumed she was fine and relaxed.

"Okay, so Liz, give it a shot." Chloe said encouragingly before taking the cap off the pen and placing it on the open notebook.

Liz bit the inside of her cheek and tried to concentrate on moving the pen. It definitely was harder than the other things she had been doing up until now. Not only did she have to move the pen in very small increments to write the letters correctly, but she also had to focus on putting the correct amount of pressure on the pen so that it would show up on the paper."

After about five minutes, Liz had successfully managed to write, "HI GUYS. THIS IS REALLY HARD." Though the size of the writing was in all caps and fairly large, so much so that it took up a third of that page, it still showed that communication without Chloe was possible, and both she and Tori smiled happily.

"Yay!" Tori exclaimed. "You did it Liz. That was awesome, do you think with practice you could master it?"

Liz's head bobbed up and down happily, as she exclaimed, "Of course!"

"Liz says, 'Of course!'" Chloe relayed doing her best interpretation of Liz's voice.

Both of the other girls laughed, and Liz, who was the first to calm down, concentrated again on the pen writing, "THIS IS GREAT. WILL YOU GUYS BE SURE TO TELL EVERYONE? WE NEED TO FIND SOME WAY FOR ME TO LET THE WHOLE HOUSE KNOW WHEN I'M HERE, SO THAT THEY DON'T FREAK WHEN THEY SEE A PEN AND PAPER RANDOMLY WRITING STUFF NEAR THEM. LOL" Though her size really hadn't changed, her speed was already improving.

Both girls nodded, before Tori continued, "What about a dry erase board. Next time they go to the store to stock up, we can have them get a dry erase board that we can put up on the fridge or in the hall or something and Liz can write on it when she's here. Or maybe just have two boxes on it, one that says "Liz is Here" and the other saying "Liz is Not Here" and then just have her check off the box with the marker as she comes and goes."

"Perfect!" Chloe and Liz said at the same time. "And don't worry, Tori and I will definitely let everyone know tomorrow at breakfast!" Chloe added pleased with the fact that they had discovered a solution so quickly. "For now though, you two can hang out, I need to go find Derek."

"Come on, Chloe. Seriously? I mean you and dog boy are cute together and all, and I'm happy for you, but really? It's been what, like 2 hrs since you've seen him? It's like you're attached at the hip for crying out loud!" Tori's mini outburst slightly shocked Chloe, but the more she thought about it the more she realized it was true.

"I guess you're right. It's kind of difficult to explain though. I think it might be a part of being mates, I'll have to read more on it. There is something that I know already that I think may be the cause of it, but I'm not totally sure that it's connected."

"What do you mean?" Tori was honestly curious, as well as Liz, who although silent, sat with a puzzled expression on her face.

"You see, once the bond of mate is formed and both mates have accepted each other, the bond deepens. When we are apart for any extended period of time, the instinct is to search each other out. From what I read, this bond has been known on occasion to become so deep that the werewolf can develop a sort of telepathic link with his mate in addition to the spiritual one already there."

"Telepathic? Like he can read your thoughts? …Creepy…" Liz shuddered.

"No, not telepathic in the traditional sense. He can't read my mind and I can't read his, well no more than you can read the mind of someone you know extremely well based off of their mannerisms and expressions. Anyway, in this case it's more of an emotional telepathy. I'm not entirely sure if he's figured it out yet, but I know when he concentrates he can feel it and know what I'm feeling. I kind of tested it out on him after dinner." Chloe smiled and chuckled to herself as the memory of his glazed over eyes flashed through her mind, "It's strange though. From what I've read so far, I haven't seen anything about the werewolf's mate being able to exhibit this same type of telepathy. However…it's strange. It's like I need to find him right now because I know he needs me. I'm not sure exactly why, but I can feel it."

Liz seemed to be in a bit of awe as she muttered "Intense", at the same time as Tori said, "Weird".

Chloe shrugged and said, "Anyway," before turning and heading for the door. Once out the door she glanced back in the room, "Later," and continued walking down the hall in search of her mate.

**

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Hmm…I know it didn't have as much fluff as normal, and I'm sorry. But this chapter was important for character development, and setting up for future plot. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you in Caught! ^_^

**Per the usual, R&R. **

**If you would be so kind to notify me of any mistakes, I'll be thankful.**

**Also, I thought I should clarify my description of a Beta. **

**Beta (n.)**** – individual who reads fanfiction chapters prior to publishing, notifies the author of any grammar/spelling errors they find, and provides constructive feedback on plot development/content (i.e.- "this part seems to be confusing", "this is unnecessary", "this is contradictory", "this could be better shown by doing this", etc.)**

**Author (n.)**** – creator and writer of the story, will accept feedback from Beta graciously, will consider any ideas for additions to the story that the Beta has (i.e.- if Beta has an idea that would be cool in the plot, the author might just make it happen)**

**Lastly, I've decided to add a little something to the end of my chapters so that you can get to know me a little better. Like Chloe, I love movies. DVD's, online TV episodes, and online anime are kind of an addiction. It really has become a problem. Every time I have gone shopping I walk out of the store with between 1 and 4 new DVD's (thank God I don't go shopping that often!). I even ended up buying 4 when I was at the airport waiting for my flight back to school after Christmas break. Anyway, my personality can be fairly well exhibited through my taste in movies and music, so from now on I'm going to let you know 7 movies that I own in a little "Inspired by Chloe" section. These are in no particular order of preference, just the order that they happen to be sitting on the stand. If you have any thoughts on them, or any questions for me, add it to your review or send me a message! ^_^ I'd love to hear it.**

_**Inspired by Chloe:**_

**_1. _Hercules ...... _2._ ****Fired Up ...... _3. _****Young Frankenstein ...... _4. _****Transformers ...... _5. _****Hellboy II: Rise of the Golden Army ...... _6._ ****Hellboy ...... _7._ ****Tombstone ......**


	8. Caught

**Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I got your hopes up and let you down; I'm so sorry. It's just it didn't go as planned, and I've been dealing with issues over next week's event since then (note to anyone out there: when you end up dealing with 3 puppies instead of full grown dogs, you attract a lot more attention and everything gets a lot more complicated). By the way, Sam: you're "GO YOU" review completely made me smile, Burning: I completely love your reviews, they're always one of the highlights of my chapters (mostly because you seem to so easily understand my writing *wink* ---you'll see how soon).**

**Important: Okay, so here's "Caught". The only thing important to know about this chapter is that I switch to different points of view throughout it, mostly due to the fact that…well, I can't really tell you why without spoiling it, so I'm just going to say it's necessary. DPOV- Derek's POV, CPOV – Chloe's POV, and OPOV – my little third person omniscient POV (if that's not technically correct I'm sorry, but I was never that good in Lit class).**

**I'll try to explain/clarify a little of what happened last chapter in this chapter, but really, it will just come out on its own as the story progresses, so I'm not going to go into too much detail. Hmm…well I guess that's all for now. I hope you enjoy it!**

**Thoughts:**

**Derek:**_** italics**_

**Wolf: **_**underlined**_

**Chloe: **_**italics**_** (only really happens in CPOV)**

**Disclaimer: Really? The rights to Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers series aren't for sale? But I could've sworn.**

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Caught

_OPOV_

After Chloe had left the kitchen, Derek had remained sitting in his chair. Not necessarily by choice mind you, it was more as if his body was refusing to move, or maybe it was that his brain just couldn't focus enough to send the signals to his legs that would allow him to get up. It wasn't that surprising really; he couldn't focus on anything, other than of course what had happened only 15 minutes prior.

Over and over, he was replaying what Chloe had done in his mind. _What was that? It was like...ahhgg!…I can't even describe it. _He exhaled loudly, and frustrated, dropped his head on his arms that had been resting on the table. _What did she do?_ _Tsk, Tsk. What do we have here? The genius can't figure something out?_ The wolf was laughing inside of Derek. _What are you talking about? You know what she did? _Derek perked up slightly, but whether it was out of annoyance at the wolf for keeping secrets from him, or hope to find out the answer he wasn't sure. _Ah, now that's where you're wrong. Our mate didn't do anything. Well, with the exception of the massaging and the kissing and the biting…_The wolf was slightly drooling now, his tongue lolling out of his partially open mouth, and after a good minute, it became clear to Derek that he had forgotten what he was even talking about. Derek had to admit to himself though, if it weren't for his intense curiosity at wanting to know what exactly Chloe did, he probably would've been reduced to a similar state. As confusing as it was, to even think about Chloe doing that again made him visibly shiver with anticipation.

_What do you mean she didn't do anything? __Oh, right. It looks like you've finally been outdone by someone in the knowledge department.__ What? What are you talking about? And what does that have to do with…__ What I mean is that Chloe knows something about mates that you don't. That's the only explanation for it. It has something to do with our bond. It has to.__ How do you know? And how is it not something she did? __Think about it. Replay the situation again. Chloe wasn't telling us what to feel, sure she told us to imagine kissing her, but all of the feelings were us. We were feeling what Chloe was feeling as we kissed her.__ I guess it makes sense. I mean, I've never felt anything that intense in my life. It felt…amazing! But we need to find out more about it. After all, what if we could do that to her? _Derek smiled at the mere thought. _Well she implied that she found out about it in the Library, I had better start there._

Finally composed and with a plan in mind, Derek headed for the third time that day to the Other Library. It didn't take him long to find the book Chloe had been reading; it had been lying on the couch where she had been laying before they got…well…distracted. He picked it up and decided to start at the beginning. Thankfully, though, he read much quicker than Chloe, who in the hours they were up there had only gotten about half way through the book, if the dog-eared page was any indication. It took him about an hour before he got to the section where she had stopped and also the one he was looking for. He was a little surprised by what he discovered. The chapter was discussing the emotional bond between werewolf and mate, which in general was nothing new, but there was one passage that piqued his interest.

It read: "In many past mating pairs, where the emotional bond is most strongly developed, a type of emotional telepathy has been known to develop. Werewolves who do develop this ability are able to sense the emotions/feelings of their mate counterparts. Usually this sense is very abstract, and comes in the form of a general gut feeling letting the werewolf know that their mate is happy, fearful, in distress, etc. It has been suggested that this develops in stronger werewolves in order to better protect their mate, and numerous cases have occurred in which a werewolf has sensed their mate's distress/endangerment when they are not near them, the thus allowing for them to save their mate before serious harm could be done. In very rare occasions, only four known, has this form of telepathy been strong enough, for the werewolf to physically sense what their mate feels. While the general form of emotional telepathy is fairly common amongst all werewolves once the emotional bond with their mate is forged, there has never been an occurrence in which the mate could sense the werewolf's emotions."

Derek re-read the passage six times before it finally sunk in. He closed the book, placing it on the end table and stretched out lying on the leather couch. He was hot, itchy, confused, and needed to think. _So I can feel what she's feeling? But wait, that would mean our emotional bond would have to already be strong enough for the telepathy to develop, and that's highly unlikely. I mean we've only known each other for a little over a month, and she practically just accepted me. How could it be that strong? _The wolf was growling at him, angry at the fact that he was questioning their bond. _You're questioning it again!? How many times does it have to be proven to you? To be drilled into your brain? Chloe proved it again after dinner, she trusts your bond. Stop thinking about it and just follow your instincts. You know it's that strong, you can feel it. Trust it.__ You're right. Chloe trusts our bond, and proved it tonight. I know that it's strong, even if it's moving unconventionally fast. _He smiled to himself, and scratched the twitching muscles of his chest through his shirt, before his hand froze above his sternum as a thought occurred to him. _But at dinner? That was definitely more a gut feeling. I mean, I could literally feel my skin burn as if I were being touched. That was definitely a physical experience, which means Chloe and I are one of the rare mating pairs. But it said that that only occurs with exceptionally strong telepathy…and if I was feeling what Chloe was feeling then…wait…that's what Chloe feels? Damn. _The wolf grinned ruefully as Derek's analytical mind finally clicked on something of the physical rather than factual nature, and for once it wasn't him that began bringing images of Chloe to the forefront of Derek's thoughts. _Hmm…I wonder how else I could make her feel? She seemed especially sensitive on her waist…maybe I should pay more attention there. _He pictured himself running his fingers over Chloe's sensitive skin, kissing along her neck, and burying his hands in her hair. It wasn't long before he lost complete track of time in his fantasies, his eyes closed as he lay on the couch.

The next thing he was aware of was the sound of footsteps in the hallway as they made their way into the Other Library and in his general direction. Shortly after his nose was invaded by Chloe's scent, and he instinctively breathed deeply, still not opening his eyes for fear of it disappearing and only being a figment of his imagination.

As her lips met his though, his eyes shot open and he became abruptly aware that it was no longer just his fantasy kissing him. She was finally back from her talk with Liz and Tori, and leaning over him while he was on the couch. Before he responded though, Chloe's lips left him as she stood back up, went to the end of the couch and lifted Derek's legs slightly before sliding around them and setting them on her lap as she sat.

Chloe turned her head to face him as she ran her hand up and down his jean-covered shin, "So, What's wrong?"

Derek tilted his head down so that he could look at her while she spoke. "What do you mean?" Derek wasn't sure why she was asking him what was wrong. In addition to that confusion, there was the problem that he still couldn't get his fantasies out of his mind, muddling his thoughts and finding it hard to focus as his vision kept straying towards her lips.

"Well, given I found you in here, I'm assuming you read about the part on our emotional bond right?" He nodded. "And the part on the telepathy?" Another nod.

She took a deep breath as she tried to figure out a way to explain what she wanted to ask him, and also what she wanted to tell him.

Derek could see her trying to focus, and he could tell it was something he needed to pay attention to and try to understand, so he tore his gaze away from her mouth and focused it on her eyes. Not that it actually helped that much, given how he loved to look at the depth of the sapphire orbs, but it was still better than her lips.

"Well, it's complicated. The reason I asked you what's wrong is because I know that you weren't…oh how do I put this…calm?...before I came."

"Huh?"

She huffed obviously frustrated with her inability to explain it. "Okay, I'll try explaining this another way. When I was with Tori and Liz, I kept having this pulling sensation. It felt like I had to go to you, because you needed me by your side. I could only assume that something was wrong and that you were upset so I came as soon as I could make my escape."

He inwardly chuckled about how she referred to getting out of the room and away from Tori and Liz as "escaping", before he realized what she had just implied in her explanation.

"Wait…so you mean you were able to sense my need for you."

Chloe nodded her head as she frowned a bit. "I know, it's confusing. I mean, mates aren't supposed to be able to develop telepathy for their wolf's emotions right? But there's no denying that I could feel how you needed me; that in my heart I could feel something telling me to go to you." She sighed before leaning against the armrest, and resting her chin in her palm.

"Well, I suppose it's possible. After all, it never said it couldn't develop, only that there aren't any known cases of it. Plus, our emotional bond is definitely stronger than most considering I was able to physically feel what you felt, putting us in the category with only four other known cases."

Chloe's head snapped up, "Hold on there! What was that? You were able to physically feel what I felt? When?"

"Umm…when you did that whole mind trip on me after dinner."

"Oh god." Chloe's face burned as red as a tomato and she turned her head away from him in embarrassment. "I-I mean, I knew t-tha-at you could sense my joy and pleasure, but I didn't expect you to actually physically feel it. Oh god."

She looked slightly mortified and Derek chuckled at her sudden needless embarrassment. He lifted his legs off her lap before repositioning so he was sitting next to her with his arm around her shoulder. He placed his hand on her jaw line and moved it so she was looking directly at him.

"Hey now. No need to be embarrassed." At that, Chloe's blush only deepened, and she tried to look away. "Uh uh, let me finish" Derek said, dragging her attention back to him, "there's no reason to be embarrassed because, I love making you feel like that Chloe, and as you well know you make me feel every inch if not more than the pleasure I give you."

With that Chloe relaxed a bit more and smiled, though her blush was still in effect when she grabbed the hand Derek had holding her jaw in her own and rested them on his lap before snuggling into his side.

They sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, before Chloe broke it. "I almost forgot, if I really was sensing that you needed me, what was wrong? What upset you?" She tilted her head up to him once more only to notice that he was now blushing, an act which confused her immensely. "Derek? Why are you blushing?"

"Um…well…um…you see…It wasn't exactly that anything was 'wrong' per say. It's just that I kind of, well, once I realized that what I experienced in the kitchen was the physical example of your pleasure and that's how I made you feel, I started to think."

"What do you mean?" Chloe had an inkling of where he was going, but wanted to drag it out of him. It wasn't often that she got to see him blush, and the longer she could make it last the better.

Derek looked at her pleadingly, begging her with her eyes to not make him explain. With her own, she easily expressed to him that he wasn't going to get out of it, and he sighed.

"I was thinking about how much I liked making you feel that way, and how I wanted to make you feel that way more. Only, I was trying to come up with ways to amp it up and increase your…ah…enjoyment."

Chloe chuckled before kissing him on the cheek and snuggling into him once more. "Well, thank you for thinking of me. Besides, it finally gave me a perfect reason to get out of my session with Tori and Liz. Which reminds me, we figured out a way for Liz to communicate without me having to be there."

Derek turned towards her and cocked an eyebrow in curiosity? "She's going to use her powers to work with pens and markers and things to write down what she says. Granted, she's writes slow and in really big capital letters right now, but she's going to practice so that she can get her writing to a more reasonable size and speed. She says it's harder to make things move in smaller amounts, like when writing letters, than it is to just move general objects. We also figured out a way she can let people know she's here, when I'm not around. We just have to convince Andrew or Izanami to buy a dry erase board next time they go shopping, which I'm guessing will be soon anyway, since they're going to need more food with all the new arrivals."

Derek grunted his agreement, as they settled once more into that comfortable silence. As they sat, he rubbed circled on the back of Chloe's hand with his thumb, and it wasn't long before he noticed her breathing start to slow and deepen. He glanced at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was nearly 10:00, earlier than they would normally go to bed, but then again, it hadn't exactly been a normal day. He shrugged, before looking down at Chloe.

"Chloe."

"Hmm…"

"I think it's time for you to go to bed." She looked up at him with a pout on her face. "Why?" She glanced at the clock, "It's only 10, and besides, look at you. You're feverish, and obviously pre-change. I should stay with you."

"Uh uh. No. We're not even sure that I am going to change tonight so there's no reason for you to stay by me, and if I am going to change then that's all the more reason for you to get your sleep. It's bad enough I'll have to wake you up, I don't want to be needlessly depriving you of sleep you could have had if you would've just gone to bed a little earlier." _Even if I do want you to stay by me. _

Chloe let out an unsatisfied huff, before speaking. "Fine. I'll go to bed on one condition that you must agree to."

Derek was slightly worried at the scheming tone in her voice and thought it best to ask first. "What condition?"

"Nope. You have to agree to it first, and if you don't, I'm staying put."

Derek sighed but nodded his head in agreement. "Good. The condition is that you must go to bed too, given that you need far more energy than I do considering you're actually the one whose body is going to transform." A slight frown formed on her face and her voice quieted as she continued, "I know how much that takes out of you Derek. You usually pass out from exhaustion after the partial changes, and it worries me."

He nodded and kissed her forehead in comfort. "I'll be fine. My body is supposed to go through this. It even said so in the book I was reading before dinner, so don't worry yourself okay."

She gave him a weak smile before burying her face in his chest, trying to get as much of him as possible before he made her go to her room. He ran his hand over her hair and down her back, committing this moment to memory.

"Let's go," he said quietly, before standing up with her. Hand in hand, they headed for their rooms, only parting after giving each other a quick goodnight kiss in front of Chloe's door.

_DPOV_

I tried to sleep, I really did. But when you're completely overheated, sweating, with your muscles and tendons practically wriggling around like snakes in your skin, sleep just doesn't come so easily. I had already been in bed for almost four hours and all I kept doing was rolling over switching from side to side, trying to find a position where the sheets didn't feel like they were scratching my currently hypersensitive skin. I had thrown the comforter off the minute I had got in bed to avoid even more heat, and the only thing keeping me from scratching deep cuts into my arms now was the sound of Chloe's peaceful breathing down the hall. Not only was it calming, but also somehow, I knew that if Chloe found out I had injured myself, I would be in trouble threefold. One she would be angry with me for not coming to get her, two she would blame herself for not being there, and three…well, I wasn't completely sure what three was, but I knew there was sure to be something. Granted, with my werewolf genes, my healing abilities were better than that of other humans or supernaturals, or maybe that was the DNA modifications of the Edison Group that enhanced my healing. Whatever it was, it never took me more than a week to heal from a wound, and that was if it was serious; deep scratches or gashes, like the ones I was contemplating giving myself in order to stop the god-forsaken snaking muscles, would heal easily in a few hours. The evidence in the form of blood on my sheets, though, now that would be a little harder to cover up.

I rolled on to my back finally giving up on any thought I had of possibly sleeping, and tried to calm myself. _Come on Derek. Focus. Just listen to Chloe's calm breathing and try to match it. In…_ I took a deep breath in through my nose …_Out…_I let the air out through my mouth…_In…Out…_

I was matching Chloe's pace perfectly, our synchronization actually making me smile as I stared at the ceiling. The distraction actually worked for a while, until the muscles in my back tightened and my stomach clenched causing me to roll onto my side and into a fetal position until the pain subsided. After a few seconds, it did, and my head cleared of the pain and went into changing mode. I had already undergone four other partial changes in the time we had been at the Safe House, and by now, I had the routine hardwired into my brain. Timing was crucial, because I needed to get to the small spot in the woods before I started vomiting; if I didn't, then I would never make it that far. I got out of bed, went over to my dresser and pulled on the grey sweat pants, and black t-shirt that I had sitting there at the ready.

Glancing at Simon's alarm clock, I noticed it was already 2:17 AM. _Shit. _If there was one thing that annoyed me other than the change itself, it was the fact that I was going to have to wake up Chloe in the middle of the night again. _Maybe I could let her sleep just this once…NO. _That thought fleeted away quickly as I remembered how hurt she had been when I had not let her come with me in her dream, and that wasn't even real.

I sighed deeply, as I silently walked to Chloe's room and opened her door. As I was heading over to her bed, I noticed her breathing was faster than before, and she had a slightly worried look on her face. _Well if she's having a nightmare, then it's probably a good thing I'll be…_

The thought was left unfinished as my stomach clenched again, and I grunted in pain. It felt like someone had punched me, and instinctively I reached my arm up to clutch my abdomen, as I leaned against the wall.

In front of me, Chloe abruptly sat up in her bed. "Derek?!" She began scanning the room frantically, and when she saw me, she paled. "I knew it." Chloe flipped the comforter off her and scrambled out of bed heading for her dresser. As I watched her pull on Liz's green hoodie, I noticed that she had traded in the boxers she had worn the last night, for a warmer pair of pajama pants. I berated myself mentally, for being slightly disappointed at this. _Really, now is not the time to be thinking about this. I mean, you're in the middle of a change and about to wander out into the woods at two in the morning and the first thing you think about when she get out of bed is how your sad you didn't get a glimpse of her legs. Really? Stop being a pig, and focus. _It only made sense after all; tonight's temperature was nearly 10 degrees cooler than it had been last night. She needed to be warm, especially when we were going into the woods.

She zipped up the hoodie, grabbed my arm and draped it over the shoulder, trying to help me support my weight. "Let's go."

I nodded as we headed out her door, and made our way through the house, and out the back door. On autopilot, we made our way through the clearing surrounding the house, into the woods. It was only a few minutes before my body spasmed again and we had to pause. We were still a good 10 minutes away from my change area, and I could already feel the bile begin to rise in my throat. "Hurry…" was all I managed to tell Chloe, as I tried to focus on putting it off for a little longer. She understood instantly and picked up her pace, with us making it into the much smaller clearing, only seconds before I bent over and began emptying my stomach onto a small bush.

As soon as I was finished, Chloe helped me over to a clearer spot. "Okay, strip."

Normally, I would've done so behind a tree or something, but given we didn't have time for that and the fact that Chloe's face seemed to be adding to the urgency, I simply took of my shirt and pants where I stood before handing them to Chloe and dropping to all fours, panting.

A larger wave of pain coursed through my body as I threw up again. Eventually leaving me to dry heaves, when there was nothing left for it to give. I was vaguely aware of Chloe folding my clothes and setting them out of the way somewhere, however, I knew instantly the moment she was back. She had knelt beside me, her delicious smell invading my nostrils, and then placed her cool hands on my shoulders. As she began kneading them, I felt my body stop trembling, it was as if ice water was seeping into my body through her hands to cool my aching muscles. I looked up at her and tried to communicate my gratitude with my eyes. The pain hadn't stopped, and my jaw was clenched so tight in a grimace that talking was pretty much out of the question.

She smiled reassuringly back at me though, before leaning closer to whisper reassuring things in my ear. As the pain continued to rack through my body, I dug my fingers into the ground, trying to concentrate on the bits and pieces that I could hear when I wasn't overwhelmed with pain. "It's okay." "You're…great." "…love…" "We'll…through…together." "Everything's……be fine."

I could tell by my arms that the hair was starting to grow and recede, however, it wasn't receding nearly as quickly as all the other times, and eventually it had stopped receding altogether. "Ahhh!!!!!!!" My back shot up as I experienced the torture that was my bones rearranging themselves. The wolf's muzzle was forming on my face now, and even if I was able to talk through the pain, I knew that all I'd be able to manage was a growl. I felt my ribs begin to crack and reposition, and instantly was back on the ground, panting even harder and trying to control my breathing so I didn't pass out. My hands began shifting into paws, as my back legs began breaking and reattaching themselves to shorten, my skin tightening to form the muscular legs of a wolf.

Repeatedly this happened, each time my spine decided to shift and extend the vertebrae I would end up only on my knees, and eventually back paws, staring into the treetops and bits of sky above us, resisting the urge to howl through the pain with all the willpower I had left.

Eventually though, it hurt too much and I knew there was no restraining it. I let loose a howl of pain that I was sure would make anyone cringe. Then I fell back onto my now paws, as the pain finally began to recede. _Wait…is it over? Is it finally over? Am I a wolf? _

My thoughts began getting quieter and quieter, as I quickly lost the ability to comprehend what was going on. My vision was blurring and darkening, and the only thing I was able to realize now was that I was losing control, and quickly. _Finally, freedom._ _Oh, no. Chloe!? Run!_

All I heard was Chloe's voice say, "Derek, you di-" before everything went black.

_CPOV_

Derek's back shot up again, and finally I couldn't bear to watch any more of his pain. It had been the worst spasm yet; I could tell from the howl that finally escaped his body. I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as they would possibly go. Finally, the howl stopped and I heard Derek's arms hit the leafy ground again.

I opened my eyes expecting to see Derek tired and on all fours, another attempt at changing failed. It turns out only one of my assumptions was right. In front of me, I saw a large black wolf whose head was the same height as mine as I knelt. Pride and relief washed over me as I saw Derek in his wolf form for the first time. The wolf turned its head to look at me, and I saw Derek's gorgeous emerald eyes. Something in me was glad that they didn't change. "Derek, you did it!" I gushed.

However, something happened as I spoke. Derek's eyes began to darken. They clouded over, and it seemed as if I was no longer looking at the same Derek. Before I had even finished my sentence, his eyes had gone a powerful black. The intense stare expressed an emotion that I couldn't interpret, and it slightly scared me. _Don't be scared_, my inner voice chided, _it's just Derek. _As the large figure suddenly began approaching me, I heard a low growl emanating from his chest. _Is he actually growling at me? No way is he growling at me._

I was so shocked, and also kind of annoyed, that I lost what little balance I had and tripped backwards, my back landing in the dead leaves that blanketed the ground. Before I realized what was happening, the wolf was looming over me, straddling my tense body. I watched as he sniffed up and down the length of my torso, eventually stopping again at my face.

He leaned his muzzle down to my neck. As I braced myself for what whatever was to come next, I felt his cold wet nose gently brush the surface of my skin. Then, I felt his tongue as he licked my neck. I smiled as he nuzzled me. I couldn't help it really; I was just so happy. When his nose brushed against a sensitive part of my neck, I giggled.

The wolf froze and lifted his head from my body. I watched as the black slowly faded from Derek's eyes. He blinked a few times and they cleared – their gorgeous natural green again. I laid there beneath him, waiting for him to get his bearings. Finally, he looked down and realized he was straddling me. I saw the intense fear that immediately shot through him, and could almost hear the panicked gears whirring in his head. "Derek?"

At the sound of my voice, Derek jumped and backed a few feet away, never taking his eyes from me. Still lying on the ground I used my elbows to prop myself partially up so that I could see him. I breathed in the cold night air and said as reassuringly as I could, "Derek, relax." He shook his head from side to side and I could almost hear him arguing with me: _No Chloe. This is no time to relax!_ I sat up and knelt facing him even though he was still quite a few feet away.

"Shut up." He looked a little surprised at that one. "You didn't hurt me, and you weren't going to. Do you understand?" Derek tilted his head to the side and perked up his ears as if he was confused. _That's so cute!_ My inner voice squealed. _Focus Chloe. Now's really not the time for that._

"Let's just say that another side of you wanted to show me how much you loved me too."I couldn't help but smile as I remembered the feeling of the wolf's breath tickling my neck. "Okay?"

Derek sat down; I'd imagine trying to figure out exactly what had happened. A breeze swept through, and I began to shiver as it chilled my bones. _Wow. Guess I hadn't realized how cold it was until my lovely personal heater decided to get all freaked out and stand four feet away. _I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to conserve any small amount of body heat within me, but it was unnecessary.

Apparently, me being uncomfortable was more important than Derek knowing what happened because he walked over to me and bowed his head. "Huh?" When I didn't understand, Derek gestured his head towards his back then looked back at me and gestured again. _Wait. He wants me to ride him? Well, it's not exactly like he's not big enough. _Inside I chuckled slightly; Derek's back was up to my waist, with his head slightly higher. Basically, he was huge. Apparently, whether in wolf or human form Derek was always going to be big.

"Hold on," I said as I stood and walked over to one of the trees. I reached down, picked up Derek's clothes, then headed back towards him. He looked at me as if to ask what I was doing. "What?" I defended, "I'm not just going to hop on your back, riding to God knows where, and leave your clothes behind." I heard a slight growlish noise emanate from his chest, which coupled with his expression, signified a laugh.

He bowed his head once more as I reached him, and I swung my leg over, using just about all my upper body strength to lift myself up the rest of the way. I unzipped Liz's hoodie, and placed his clothes next to my chest before securing it again. Derek craned his neck to look at me. In response, I leaned down into him wrapping my arms around his neck. "I'm ready."

With that, Derek was off tearing through the woods at such a rapid pace I couldn't even get a good look at the forest around us. Within minutes, we had reached the clearing and were headed towards the house. Derek slowed his speed but still managed to get up the five stairs of the porch in a single leap.

"Well that was fast," I grumbled disappointedly into Derek's neck. I squeezed Derek tightly one last time before hopping off and walking to the door. As he walked in, I propped it open then quietly shut and locked it behind him, careful not to wake anyone else in the house.

We walked upstairs together, and he followed me into my room. Once in, I closed the door and told him to turn around. Derek made that adorable little confused face again – _So cute!!! _– and I gestured to my pajama bottoms, which were caked in dirt from when I had knelt beside him in the forest. Understanding, Derek obliged and turned to face the wall. I changed into my only remaining pair of clean pajama pants, and went to take off Liz's hoodie. As I unzipped it, Derek's clothes hit the floor. _That's right. I'd forgotten I'd shoved those in there._ Carefully, I picked them up, refolded them, and placed them on the old, worn dresser.

When I finished, Derek still faced the wall, but his tail was swishing across the floor from side to side. _I wonder what he's so happy about?_ Ignoring it, I walked over to my bed. "Derek, you can turn around now." He did as I said but still didn't move from his location near the wall.

I grabbed the dirty towel I had used earlier that night after my shower and sat on the floor, leaning against the side of the bed. Derek just stared at me. _I really have to explain everything don't I? _"Come here. Your paws are covered in mud," I said giving an exasperated sigh and waving the towel at him.

After wiping off his front, then back, pads, Derek surprised me with a kiss, or rather a lick, on the nose. I giggled as I thought back to our first "romantic comedy" kiss two days ago in his room.

I placed my hands on either side of his head, with my thumbs resting gently in front of his pointy ears. My back straightened, and my hands pulled his head lower, maneuvering us to a better position as I kissed him on the head. After our little moment – _so, closing kiss from The Sure Thing, _I thought– I stood up, leaving the towel I had used laying on the floor by the nightstand, and slid into bed.

Derek curled into a ball on the floor where he was. _Seriously? _I lifted the half of the comforter that was in between my side of the bed and the opposite side where he lay on the floor, slinging it over myself. Leaning over to look at him, I asked, "and what exactly do you think you're doing?"

Derek looked confused, slightly hurt, and stood turning to leave. "That's not what I meant," I corrected. He turned back to me looking even more confused than before. I patted the empty space on the bed with my hand. "I didn't wipe your paws off for no reason you know."

He grinned ever so slightly before making his way over to the bed and jumping up. Derek laid next to me on his stomach, still in wolf form, before I covered us both up. Snuggling into him and running my fingers through the soft black fur on his back, I lulled myself to a truly peaceful sleep.

………_About 6 hours or so later………_

Derek the wolf was beside me, and we were strolling through the forest. We relaxed, walked by the streams, and everything was at peace. Then I heard it: "OH MY GOD!!! CHLOE!?!"

The shrill scream had shattered everything like a broken mirror, and I felt the warm thing next to me tense. I snuggled in deeper trying to go back to that place where everything was quiet and wonderful, and it was just Derek and I. "OH. MY. GOD." The unknown voice began laughing uncontrollably.

"Chloe, I think we have a problem." Derek's deep voice had a sense of urgency that finally broke any chance I had of escaping back into my dream world. _It's okay though. Because when you open your eyes, he'll be there, standing over you ready to tell you what's wrong, then comfort you if you freak. _Boy was I wrong. When I opened my eyes, Derek was not standing over me. He was lying next to me, apparently, he was the warm thing I had snuggled up to, and he had a panic-stricken look on his face.

Instinctively I turned towards the direction he was staring, and saw Tori in hysterics standing in the doorway. Behind her, stood a fuming Simon with a look so harsh it almost burned. And only about 30 seconds later, Andrew appeared behind them, quickly adopting a red-faced look expressing all of his shock, anger, and confusion. Not quite awake yet I was still slightly confused and turned to Derek next to me hoping he would explain.

By this point, we were both sitting up, but still safely under the comforter. As his face met mine, it clicked, and instantaneously a wave of reality, embarrassment, and unnecessary guilt shot through me. I felt my cheeks redden. _Okay. So Derek is in the bed next to me. Tori, Simon, and Andrew have all just walked in on us, obviously thinking the worst. (When did my life become another teen move?) And to make it worse, not only is he in bed with me, but he's NOT wearing a shirt. This is definitely not good. No, wait. _My eyes strayed over to his clothes, which were still folded neatly on the dresser, where I had left them the night before. The heat in my cheeks increased so much it almost burned, and I'm certain my face became the deepest shade of red it had ever been in my lifetime. _He's naked!_

* * *

**Okay, so this one had a lot of fluff and the moment everyone's been waiting for, Derek's first full change (YAY!!!!). As far as the last part goes, I just want to clarify before anybody gets any ideas in their head (or I start trying to come up with them in mine), that this story will not turn into an M rated fic, so don't worry about it. I just wanted to be realistic because seriously, what are the chances of his boxers not ripping after he undergo's the full change? I mean really! Can you picture Derek as a big black wolf wearing boxers?! I don't think so. And it's not as if they're magically going to reappear when he's human again, so instead it's going to be realistic and completely awkward of course, just as real life is. ^_^**

**Per the usual, R&R. **

**If you would be so kind to notify me of any mistakes, I'll be thankful.**

**Hmmm….my movie problem has gotten worse. I bought myself a Valentine's day present (12 new movies via Amazon). Hello my name is Allie and I am a movie addict. (Actually, come to think of it, none of you knew my name before this did you…well it's Allie so have fun with that.)**

_**Inspired by Chloe:**_

**1. Hancock ...... 2. ****Anastasia ...... 3. ****Ocean's Eleven ...... 4. ****The Matrix ...... 5. ****Van Helsing ...... 6. ****Underworld ...... 7. ****Happy Gilmore ......**


	9. Explanations

**Hmmm…my reason for this chapter taking so long. Yeah, when the world is crumbling around you and your life is in a downward spiral, other things besides writing fanfiction tend to take priority.**

**Important: Can't really think of anything extraordinarily important to point out before reading this one. It pretty much describes itself. Oh, I guess I could let you know that, at least for this chapter, I went back to using just DPOV and CPOV minus the OPOV. Again you will only hear a person's thoughts if it is in their point of view, since I did not use OPOV, so even though Derek and Chloe's thoughts are both in **_**italics**_** it should be easy to distinguish between them.**

**Some Responses:**

**Ethereal chaos: thank you! that compliment means a lot. Figuring out how to show their emotions was the biggest hurdle to overcome for me, since in general I'm not a very emotionally expressive person. (I'm one of those people who has so much crazy turmoil going on, but no one ever knows because I always have my peppy smiling exterior mask on)**

**Wolfgirl369: I did make it awkward, but not super mega awkward. But don't worry just because they get distracted for a while, doesn't mean the awkwardness will stay away. ^_^**

**Emma: hmm, I agree. Chloe is definitely a little OOC. And although I try to keep her as close to her character as possible, I can't help but make her stronger, because I just love the idea of her overcoming her nervousness because of her relationship with Derek. (I'm a sucker for this in other people's stories too). Thanks for your opinion!**

**EmoTacoFilling: I would be honored.**

**Burning: I'm really glad you liked it. As always, your reviews really are one of the highlights of my chapters, and pretty consistently the longest. (Also, love the I Love Lucy/Ricky Ricardo reference XD)**

**Cutesies: Thank you. That is a fabulous compliment.**

**Zaakinaunt: I enjoy your reviews quite a bit. This is the first time I've ever received a death threat for not updating, which to me is really one of the sincerest forms of flattery (much better than imitation). In my opinion, only the best fanfiction writers get reviews like these, so I am honored to know that you consider me among them.**

**Everyone else: I know. I know. I'm a witch for not updating. You all hate me. Blah…blah…blah. But you love the story and for that I love you!**

**Thoughts:**

**Derek:**_** italics**_

**Wolf: **_**underlined**_

**Chloe: **_**italics**_

**Disclaimer: Really? The rights to Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers series aren't for sale? But I could've sworn.**

* * *

Explanations

_DPOV_

I was running, fast. The world around me blurred as my claws dug into the earth beneath me. I darted my way through the trees leaping over, and occasionally crouching under, some of the large fallen tree limbs that had been downed in the last big storm.

It wasn't long before I was nearing my destination. Even though I could not yet see the clearing in the trees that was still roughly a mile ahaead, I knew I was almost there. Sure, I had run like this hundreds, if not thousands, of times through these same woods. I knew the trails, trees, and bushes by heart—but none of that mattered. I didn't need to know the terrain to know where I was headed; I simply followed the scent. _Her_ scent. That delicious, intoxicating smell that had ingrained itself into every fiber of my being all those years ago.

As soon as I burst through the trees, I saw her. She had a smile on her face, her now long blonde hair lightly blowing behind her in the warm summer breeze. She stood up when she saw me, smoothing out her pale blue sun dress before reaching for the towel that lay on the steps. She waved the towel at me and I nodded as I padded up to the porch, immediately sitting and lifting one paw towards her. She wiped each off with the towel, and it wasn't until she was finished that she leaned down burying her face in the fur near my ears that she finally spoke. When she did, it was only a whisper, "I missed you." She kissed my muzzle before pulling away with a smile. Casually, she laid the large towel over the back half of my body before opening the door to our home.

I followed and began walking into the house, seamlessly and painlessly changing in the process. My chest and arms changed the fastest making it easy to grip the towel and keep it from falling as my body shifted from walking on four legs to two. Now finished and in the hallway, I made sure the towel was secured before turning back and opening my arms to her. She closed the front door before walking over and settling herself happily in my embrace. I leaned into her head inhaling her scent deeply before withdrawing and instead bringing her face to meet mine.

"I missed you too," I said before smiling and kissing her. At first the kiss was not much more than your standard "welcome home" kiss, however it was only seconds before I felt her fingers begin roving over my abdomen, and instinctively I deepened the kiss in response. I pushed her up against the wall and she let out a gasp as I plastered her body to mine.

We had only been kissing for a few minutes when I heard footsteps approaching. The sounds became louder as the interactions between my mate and I started blurring, and I heard a door open.

My eyes shot open instantly, only to be greeted by the boring view of a plain white ceiling. A few seconds later my ears joined the unpleasantly awakened party as I heard Tori's high pitched scream of "OH MY GOD! CHLOE!", and winced at the pain it caused in my ear drums.

_Damn Tori! What the hell is she doing in my room! And why is she yelling about Chloe? _I quickly went to sit up in order to glare at her and tell her off, but as I went to move, I became immediately aware of the tightening sensation around my upperbody. _Huh? What the?_

Confused, I looked down to find Chloe gripping me tightly and burying her face in my chest as if trying to fight off the need to wake up. I was about to smile with content before three things happened simultaneously: Simon came to the door to see why Tori had screamed, Tori said, "OH. MY. GOD." before bursting out into hysterical laughter, and finally all of the memories of last night came flooding back into my memory. With them, they brought many sudden realizations.

_Okay, okay. Breathe. Don't freak out. Don't panic. Oh, who am I kidding? Now is definitely time to panic. I'm in bed with Chloe. Simon is staring and obviously pissed. Tori is laughing at us. Wait…US… _I looked down at Chloe and quickly realized the best thing to do would be to get her out of this situation before they woke her up, and the easiest way to do that was to get out of bed and get them away from this room. As my hands gripped the comforter though, I froze, thankfully realizing I didn't have any clothes on before pulling it off and accidentally revealing myself to the world. _Shit! Why am I naked again? Oh right, Changing. Boxers tore during the transformation, Chloe ran back to get my other clothes though, so they should be around here somewhere…_

My eyes darted nervously about the room before finally seeing the pile of clothes folded up on Chloe's dresser. _Thank God. _I shifted my gaze immediately to Chloe hoping they didn't notice where I had looked. "Chloe," I said with urgency to my voice, "I think we have a problem."

_Maybe if I just stay under the cover, they'll assume I'm in my boxers. That's better at least than them knowing the truth. Oh God. They would think we slept together. Shit! We're in so much trouble. _I stared into Chloe's eyes, feeling panic grip at me again as she opened them to look at me. I saw the surprise that flashed through them and the concern when she noticed my panic. I quickly focused my gaze onto Simon and Tori, hoping that she would quickly figure out why I was so freaked. She followed my action immediately, and only about 30 seconds after she turned her head Andrew arrived in the doorway. He took one look at us together in bed, and I could see all the emotions cross his face at once. _Crap. I'm dead. _It was like staring at a girl's father walking in to find her in bed with some guy, and the surprise and confusion, quickly shifted to anger as he glared at the two of us.

Sadly, Chloe didn't figure out the difficulty of our situation as quickly as I had, and she turned her face back to look at me, the confusion evident in her questioning expression. When her eyes met mine though I saw the wheels begin to turn in her head as everything finally clicked and she realized our location and proximity to each other. She began turning a deep shade of pink almost immediately. _God I love it when she blushes. No. No. Shut up. It's not the time for that._ Then she seemed to realize something as I saw her eyes drift over to the dresser and my clothes. The shade of red on her face deepened and spread to her neck as well. _Ugh…this is not going to be good. Think Derek think. How do we get out of this? Think!_

Chloe looked over at the people in the doorway and then back to me. I could see her freaking out, urging me with her eyes to somehow communicate to her a plan to get us out of this. _Agh. Think Derek! Well, there's no option for me to get out of the bed, that much is obvious. That means it's up to Chloe. She's going to have to distract them somehow and lead them away from the room. I got it. Now, I just hope Chloe can follow along._

I quickly nodded my head signaling I had a plan as I took on my faithful expressionless mask. She looked hesitant, but gave a shaky nod all the same, trusting my judgment. "Tori. Calm down," I barked out.

Tori's head snapped up in annoyance at being ordered around, "Excuse me dog boy? Don't tell me to calm down. I have every reason to be laughing my ass off. I come in here to wake Chloe up for breakfast and what do I find? You and her _in bed_ together. Did you see the way she snuggled into your side when you went to sit up? It was freaking priceless! The look on your face when you realized you'd been caught! Oh my God! Best thing ever." She broke out into another fit of laughter, and I started growling.

"Tori," Andrew scolded, "that's enough." He gave her a brief minute to calm herself before returning his angry glare to Chloe and I. "Care to explain yourselves?" It was less of a question and more of a demand, as he crossed his arms in waiting.

"First of all," I said calmly, "it's not what I'm certain all of your minds are assuming."

"It better not be. We are in the middle of planning a battle to save your lives. I don't know what you two were thinking, but the majority of people would consider this a crisis situation. This is not the time for a bunch of horny teenagers to be sneaking around trying to fulfill their hormonal desires. Werewolf mate or not, there will be no 'mating' under this roof. Understood."

I clenched my teeth in annoyance with his use of the word 'mating' but played along and nodded my head in confirmation of my understanding. "I get it. But like I said, what happened here is nowhere near what you were thinking." Chloe nodded feverishly agreeing with me, though a blush still tinged her cheeks.

Finally, I had gained their attention. Some of the red faded from Simon's face, as Andrew's expression softened slightly waiting to hear what happened, and Tori looked eager to hear the next bit of possible entertainment. I sighed.

"Well?" Tori finally said, when I hadn't continued. _Okay now I just have to play this out right. Get them intrigued enough where they have to know the rest immediately, try to get Chloe to usher them out without saying anything to her, and then get some clothes on. _

"You see, when I fell asleep in here, I wasn't exactly my usual self."

"What do you mean?" Simon asked before Andrew's open mouth ever had the chance to. Even though his tone was slightly accusing, this relaxed me somewhat. _The fact that he even asked means that he is at least willing to hear my side of the story._

I took a deep breath, being careful to look as emotionless as possible before responding, "I Changed last night."

"What?" From the shocked looks on all of the faces, and Andrew's obvious outburst, you could tell it wasn't what any of them had expected to hear.

"What do you meanby 'Changed'? You had another partial Change?" Andrew asked with urgency, and what I could sense was a bit of fearful nervousness.

"No. Last night I made my first full Change. I was a wolf." Andrew stiffened as Tori's jaw dropped and Simon's eyes widened in realization.

"Explain exactly what happened." Andrew stated, trying to sound calm but failing. _Perfect. Now for Chloe…_

I turned my head to Chloe and nudged her with my elbow. She looked at me confused, and I nodded to her trying to communicate with my eyes that she needed to explain. When her expression shifted to a questioning one, I quickly glanced over to the three in the doorway out of the corner of my eye before aiming my gaze towards her again and subtly jerking my head in their direction. Her blue eyes lit up as she finally understood the plan, and nodded to me with a smile.

Chloe then turned her attention to Andrew and smiled enthusiastically. "I'll explain everything. But first," she scooted her way towards the pillows at the top of the bed and maneuvered her legs out from under the comforter, careful not to disturb its place covering the lower half of my body. Her blush suddenly deepened a little as she glanced at me before crawling her way to the foot of the bed and hopping off.

All three of them stared at her expectantly awaiting her more detailed explanation. Calmly, she walked over to the corner and put on her slippers, before turning around. "There now. First we're going to head to Simon and Derek's room," she said walking over to them.

"What? Why?" Simon asked, confused by the dramatic shift in mood from Derek's stoniness to Chloe's brightness.

Chloe sighed as if exasperated at not wanting to explain the obvious. "If we're all gathered here, then others are probably going to start showing up soon, especially when Izanami sends someone looking for us for being late to breakfast." She shuddered for added dramatic effect, and Derek inwardly praised her acting ability. _She's better than I expected. Then again, with all the movies she watches this is probably just like writing a script to her. __But more importantly, look at how cute our mate looks in those pajamas. Nowhere near as good though as her face on our chest._ The wolf sent some more unwanted, okay not entirely unwanted, images of Chloe and I laying together before I forced them away. _No. Not the time. Focus._

"So, what does that have to do with us changing rooms? They'll just as easily find us there as they would here." Tori complained.

Andrew just cocked an eyebrow also wanting a better reason.

Chloe lost the smile then and took on a serious expression. _Uh oh. I've seen that expression before. That's the one she uses when she's angry about something._ When she spoke her tone was also serious, "Because I do not, no I _will not_, have anyone other than family and myself viewing MY MATE'S bare chest." The possessive tone she used when ending that statement actually made my heart rate increase a bit. "Is that clear? He is mine and he," her voice softened as she turned back to look at me, "needs to get dressed." Her serious tone returned as she grabbed the door handle. "Now move." Without saying anymore, she began walking straight at them, forcing them to back up, and pulling the door closed behind her. _Damn. Note to self: angry Chloe, bad. Possessive Chloe, very, very good._

I smirked and listened as the steps retreated down the hall before throwing aside the comforter. Making a dash for the dresser, I made quick work of my jeans and made sure my t-shirt was fully on before opening the door and rushing to join them.

I could hear them down the hall talking as I changed my clothes and walked.

"Now Chloe we're in a different room so explain." _Andrew_, I noted by the voice.

"Well, I guess I should start from the beginning. Derek and I knew he was going to be going through another Change soon, because he was experiencing all of the usual symptoms. I noticed his first muscle twitch at dinner the other night. Anyway, I was asleep, but then I began to feel restless, as if something were seriously wrong. I woke up immediately to find Derek in my room, clutching his abdomen in pain. I knew he was Changing of course, and so we headed to the woods."

It was at this point that I reached my room and entered to find Chloe on my bed, Simon and Andrew on Simon's bed, and Tori leaning against the wall near the window. Chloe looked up at me and smiled as she patted the space next to her, and I joined her on my bed.

"I'll leave out the more graphic parts of the Change if you don't mind, unless you really need to hear about the bone breaking and horrible pain?" I winced at the thought of the pain.

Thankfully, Andrew responded, "No. I agree with you, that it is unnecessary."

Chloe nodded and continued. "Anyway, Derek was able to fully Change into his wolf form, which, might I add, is completely breathtaking." She made a short pause and I knew what she was going to say next. The part of the night that I couldn't really remember and slightly dreaded hearing—the part when I lost control.

"You see, even as a wolf Derek still has green eyes. But then as I was congratulating him, his eyes changed color. They turned black. He started coming over to me, and I fell backward in surprise. He stood over me and brought his nose down to my neck sniffing me." She blushed lightly then went on. "T-then he, w-w-well, h-he k-kind-d-d of…"

I grabbed her hand and held it in mine. "Breathe Chloe. Just breathe." She took a few calming breaths and nodded to me with a smile.

"What I was trying to say is that he then licked me and nuzzled into my neck. It kind of tickled though so I giggled. That's when his head shot up, his eyes changed back to green, and he jumped like five feet away from me. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was freaking out thinking he must have hurt me. I tried to convince him otherwise but he wouldn't come near me until I started shivering and he realized I was cold. After that, I rode him back to the house, and—"

She was cut off midsentence by Tori. "Wait. Wait. Back up a minute. Did you just say you 'rode' him? Like a horse?"

Chloe shrugged, "Well, yeah. Even as a wolf Derek is really huge, not to mention fast. Plus, it was his idea in the first place."

Tori burst out laughing again, and even Simon laughed at that one. "Der…I'm sorry…but the idea of you letting anyone ride on your back…is positively…hilarious," he choked out between laughs.

As the two regained their composure, Andrew cleared his throat, "You were saying?"

"I was saying, that after we got to the house, we went upstairs to my room where I got changed because my pajama pants were completely covered in dirt, and wiped the mud off of Derek's paws with a dirty towel. There was no way I was going to get my sheets all dirty. Anyway, then we got in bed, with Derek still in wolf form, and fell asleep. Apparently, he must have Changed back some time during the night, because when we woke up…" She trailed off. They could all fill in the rest from there on their own.

There was an awkward pause and then I heard footsteps. "Someone's coming," I let everyone else know. I didn't recognize the smell immediately so I knew it had to be one of the new people.

A couple minutes later there was a knock on the door, and Nicolae poked his head in. "Derek? Sim… Oh. You're all in here. Great, less walking for me. Anyway, Izanami sent me up to get you guys, breakfast is ready. It's waffles today." He said the last bit enthusiastically and smiled as if it was the best thing in the world. _Guess he likes waffles…_

"Thank you, Nicolae. Tell Izanami that we'll all be down in a bit, but I have something I need to discuss with them first."

"Okay, whatever you say. Just don't blame me if you get your heads bit off…" He shrugged and headed back down stairs. Once I could make out the sound of his feet on the steps I nodded at Andrew signaling that the coast was clear.

Andrew heaved a sigh, and rubbed his forehead in a gesture that said it was too early in the morning for him to be dealing with this. "Okay, so let me get this straight…Derek changed last night. Even when he apparently lost control, all he did was lick you?" Tori choked back a laugh at that one and I sent a glare her way.

Chloe nodded in affirmation to Andrew before he continued. "After which point, you came back to the house and went to bed with him still in wolf form?"

At that both Chloe and I both nodded. "Okay, I can understand that just fine. The only thing I don't quite understand is how you managed to shift back into your human form without either of you waking up."

"Well, I can't exactly say that I didn't wake up…" I admitted.

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked as Chloe cocked her head to the side confused.

"I'm not surprised that Chloe didn't wake up considering how little sleep she has gotten. Not to mention, she had only got a few hours of sleep before my Change, and from what I could tell it wasn't that good. As for me, I don't really remember much after I fell asleep. The Change was completely excruciating and my body was utterly worn out physically, not to mention I was exhausted mentally because I hadn't slept at all before my Change. I pretty much passed out within seconds after getting in Chloe's bed. The next bit, I'm not really sure if it was a dream or if it actually did happen, but I think I may have woken up partially when I changed because I kind of remember feeling my body shift. The thing is that it didn't hurt at all to Change back. I'm not sure if I was just too exhausted to notice or care about the pain, or if it really didn't hurt. But once I was human, I passed out again. If it wasn't a dream, then I can tell you I was never really conscious enough to take in my surroundings and notice the fact that I was still in Chloe's bed. If I had, I would've been smart enough to go to my own room and avoid all this mess."

Immediately Chloe looked up at me with a pout on her face, and I was able to feel the disappointment coming from her. _She would've wanted me to stay with her? __Heh, our mate wants to sleep in the same bed. Look at her face just at the thought of you getting up and leaving. Maybe we should Change more often. We'd have an excuse to sleep with Chloe, and she certainly wouldn't mind.__ Maybe…no. No. We'll just end up getting lectures again and again. __Come on. Think about it. Our mate that close. Head on our chest, clinging to us, her body pressed up against ours…_

The wolf was shooting some very colorful images at me, which I was thoroughly enjoying, when Andrew's voice caught my attention. "Derek…Derek! Are you paying attention?"

"Uhm…I'm sorry. I got a little distracted thinking about my Change," I lied. Chloe had a blush adorning her cheeks though as if she knew what I was actually thinking.

"That's fine. Now as I was saying, I think it is best if we let everyone know this as soon as possible. That way, if they happen to see you when you're in your wolf form at some point they won't be completely terrified. I know not all of the adults in this house feel completely okay being around a werewolf, no offense Derek. It's due more to old reputations of the Pack than anything else. I think that once they know you're not a threat, things should at least be a little better, though I wouldn't hope for too much."

"Hey, Der, do you think you can Change on will now that you completed it once already?" Simon said after an awkward pause. _Well, it may not exactly be brotherly love, but at least he doesn't hate me._

"I'm not sure. In the book I was reading it did say that werewolves could change at will after having completed the first full Change, however due to the Edison Group messing with my DNA I'm not really sure. I guess I won't know until I try."

"Well, if you can, then maybe we could arrange a sort of demonstration."

"What?

"Think about it. This way everyone will know what you look like as a wolf, you know so they don't mistake some other random wolf or werewolf for you if one ever happens to show up…"

"Yeah," Tori snorted, "because the likelihood of that happening is so high." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, and honestly I couldn't blame her. I mean that chances of another werewolf showing up were between slim and none, and if they did, I wasn't exactly sure if it would be a good thing.

"I wasn't finished," Simon pointed out, "the other reason is because I think it would make everyone a lot more comfortable to be able to see that he can control it. You know that once he changes he's not just some insane animal that's going to go on a killing spree or anything." At that thought I visibly shuddered, and Chloe's hand found its way into mine as she squeezed it in comfort.

"I'm not entirely sure, that's a good idea. At least not until Derek has had more time to get used to changing. Once we know if he can shift at will then maybe. But you need to understand. Changing is a very painful process of bones breaking and shifting and muscles contracting and loosening. Not to mention the intense mental exhaustion it causes. Until I know for one if Derek can change at will, and two if it causes him as severe of pain as the partial and first changes. I refuse to support this." As she reached the climax of her speech her grip on my hand tightened further.

"Well, I understand your feelings Chloe. But you need to understand that there's other people here that need to be considered as well. Yes, this is a very personal event for Derek, but it affects us all. We can't just not do anything. Everyone at least has to know that he is now a full werewolf." Andrew tried to reason with her.

Simon's face had fallen from Chloe's objection to his plan, but at the same time he kept giving me this pitying look, almost like he understood but didn't want to accept what Chloe had said about my pain. _Ugh. This is too much. I just need a second to think. There are too many factors going on here. There's my pack, Andrew, and everyone else downstairs. But if I'm going to protect everyone I need them to not be afraid of me. Which makes Simon's idea a good one. But then what if I can't change on will? What if I can't do it. What if I can't protect them when I need to? What if I change again and this time someone gets hurt? What if I hurt Chloe?_ The wolf growled angrily at the mere suggestion. _Shut up. Stop talking like that. We won't hurt Chloe. EVER.__ But what about everyone else? __We only attack those who threaten the safety of our pack.__ Well I knew that. But I wasn't sure you did. __We are one in the same. What you know I know. I am your instincts and your strength. I am your inner wolf, now get used to it already because I won't be going away._ _Fine, that means the only problem with Simon's plan is whether or not I can do it, and how much strain it causes on my body and mind. _

"I'll do it," I stated quietly looking down at mine and Chloe's intertwined hands. The arguing that Andrew and Chloe had been doing while I was thinking stopped, as everyone turned to look at me.

"What?" Chloe asked, obvious worry in her tone.

I lifted my head and put a look of determination on my face as I turned to look at her. "I said, I'd do it." I turned back to look at Andrew and Simon before continuing, vaguely noticing that Tori was still leaning up against the window staring out of it with a bored expression. "Assuming I can do it that is. As long as I can change when I want to, I think it would be a good idea. I'll need to practice and train more with changing anyway so that I can do it in battle if I need to. And it really would be best if everyone could see me as a wolf, that way they know I'm not a danger to them, at least as long as they don't attack me or my pack. And, as unlikely as it is to actually happen, I do think it's necessary for them to be able to distinguish me from other werewolves that show up."

"But Derek…" Chloe's voice was near a whisper as she stared up at me, pleading wither eyes for me to not do it, to not subject myself to more pain.

Gently I leaned down and kissed her forehead after brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll be fine. It may hurt, but Andrew and Simon are right. It has to be done." She nodded her head reluctantly before leaning against my side, as I again turned back to Andrew and Simon.

"So when do you think we should tell them?" I asked.

"Oh…uh…right," Andrew stuttered, still apparently a bit stunned from my compliance. "I think it would be best to tell them after breakfast. As far as the demonstration goes, we can inform them about it, but we won't set up an actual time until you know for sure if you are able to do it."

"Whatever." Tori let out a huff and began walking across the room. "You all are thoroughly boring, so I'm going to go eat."

"I'll let Izanami know that we're going to need a meeting after breakfast," she added as she walked out the door without so much as another glance at them.

"I think Tori's right," Andrew said, seeming finally composed as he stared at the door Tori had left from. He stood up and started for the door.

Simon followed his example, "Oh yeah. Better get down there before Izanami decides to come up here herself…ughhh," his body shuddered visibly at the thought. "Let's go."

Chloe stood up and looked at me with an uncertain smile on her face. "Shall we?"

I simply nodded, before standing and releasing her hand only to swing my arm around her shoulders. Together the three of us descended the steps, heading to what I already knew, from what I could hear while we were still upstairs, was a crowded kitchen.

* * *

**Okay, so I know the end isn't great. Also, I know both Tori's and Simon's characters need more development as well, something I'll be working on in the next few chapters. And this chapter is still kind of short, but like I said, life is a downward spiral and I really don't have a lot of time. More chapters will follow this, but no promises as to when. **

**Still please, R&R, as they really do inspire me in my stories. Constructive criticism is always appreciated and if you have any ideas for the future of the story (particularly if they happen to involve how to bring about the whole Edison Group conflict deal…because I'm kind of struggling with this) either leave them in a review or PM me. Also, per the usual, if you notice any spelling or grammar errors let me know and I'll fix them. **

**Also, random fact, was struck with inspiration quite a while back and attempted to write an M-rated Chlerek one-shot semi-related to this story. Sadly, it was an ultra-fail that ended up becoming far too literal and action oriented with not enough emphasis on emotions, making it suck. That is all.**

_**Inspired By Chloe: **_

**1. X-Men … 2. X2: X-Men United … 3. X-Men The Last Stand … 4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine … 5. Batman/Batman Returns … 6. Batman & Robin/Batman Forever … 7. The Fifth Element**


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